The Rebel's Yell
by FantysmalAdorations
Summary: Alec needs to get over Sebastian, but it's hard for him to give up the familiarity. Luckily there is a cute water boy at his step brother's school. Unluckily, that same boy is his brother's arch enemy, and apparently the reason he cries himself to sleep... Rated M for later chapters. All human/AU/ high school.
1. Poison Love

**Chapter One: Poison Love**

"He just looked so good in those light wash jeans. Not many people can pull them off, but Sebastian really can. I think he wore those on purpose because he knows I like them. He's just doing it to mess with me, but it's working. I want to get back together with him," Alec was saying as he and Jace waited for their food at the Taki's diner.

"That's a bad idea, Alec, and you know it," Jace said, not particularly fond of Sebastian.

"I know you and Mom and Dad don't like him, but he's really not as bad as he seems. He can be very sweet sometimes," Alec said, trying to defend his ex boyfriend. They had broken up about six months ago, but they still sat together and talked everyday like best friends. "He just gets nervous around you guys."

Jace rolled his eyes, "Come on, Alec. You were miserable when you were dating him. Nothing good came from that relationship. If you ask me, you should stop talking to him all together."

Alec sighed. Something good had actually come from that relationship, and it was still coming. After they had broken up, they decided to just be friends with benefits. Alec didn't dare tell that to Jace, though. "I'm not going to quit talking to him. I really like him, Jace." Alec's eyes held a slight sadness that made Jace want to punch Sebastian in the face for breaking up with his brother in the first place.

"Alec, you can't keep hanging around him. It's no good for you. Even if he said you can still be friends, you can't. You can't be friends. It just causes a lot of heartache for the both of you." Jace went silent as the waitress brought them their food. Jace got a hamburger with a small order of fries while Alec had two hamburgers and a large order of fries. Jace was always amused at how much Alec could eat.

"I can't just drop him. We have all of the same friends so we are around each other all the time," Alec said thinking that not talking to him would mean no more sex with him. He did NOT want that.

Jace chewed on a fry thoughtfully. "I could set you up with someone to get your mind off of it. A bunch of guys at my school are gay. Most of them are pretty cute," Jace suggested. He and Alec didn't go to the same school due the fact that Alec's mother wanted him in a private school and Jace had been going to public school before his father married Maryse, and he didn't want to switch.

"Absolutely not," Alec said, blushing with a mouth full of food.

"Why not?" Jace asked, looking indignant. He wanted the best for his brother, and Sebastian was not it.

"I'm not desperate enough to be set up, Jace. I'd rather be alone forever than be set up on a blind date," Alec said, wiping a drop of ketchup off his lip with this tongue. As he was talking, he got a text message from Sebastian asking if they could get together tonight.

"Is that Sebastian?" Jace asked, watching his brother's expression carefully.

"No," Alec said, obviously lying.

"Don't answer it, Alec," Jace commanded.

"But-"

"No," Jace said. He grabbed the phone from Alec, locking the screen before putting the phone on his seat and sitting on top of it.

For a second, Alec was scared he was going to read the text message. Though Jace didn't know about their affair, Alec knew he was suspicious. Especially since a month after they broke up, Jace walked in on them making out.

"Can I have my phone back, please?" Alec said, slightly annoyed but more worried that Jace would go through his messages.

"No. You just want to get back with Sebastian because you're horny and you want the sex," Jace said, ignoring Alec's outraged and surprised look.

"That's not true," Alec said. And it wasn't. He was still getting the sex, but it wasn't enough. "And besides, if I'm not dating Sebastian, I don't want to date anyone for a while."

Jace gave him a sympathetic look. "I understand, but Alec you have to move on eventually. We should have a party," Jace said so suddenly that Alec didn't respond at first.

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah," Jace said excitedly. "We should have a party while Mom is away this weekend and Dad isn't back yet."

"No, Jace, we shouldn't," Alec said, knowing that Jace was just wanting an excuse to drink alcohol and set him up.

"It'll be fun! I can invite the football team, basketball team, track team, soccer team, cheerleaders, and half of the band geeks. Maybe even some of the mathletes if I feel like it. I know at least 25 percent of them are gay, so that's a plus for you. I won't try to set you up, but you can scope out your options."

Alec was silent for a moment, contemplating the offer. If he said yes, he could sneak Sebastian in and get alone time with him while Jace was occupied with the party. "Fine, we can have the party, but absolutely no alcohol and no setting me up."

Jace smile brightly at him, his slightly crooked incisor teeth gleaming in the dim light of the diner. "Great, I'll text everyone I know. This is going to be awesome," Jace said.

Alec had already finished both of his hamburgers and half of his fries by the time Jace was done adding people to a group message. "Can I have my phone back now?" he asked, holding out his pale hand.

Jace handed it to him, a Cheshire grin plastered on his face. "This is going to be the greatest party ever."

Alec rolled his eyes, taking back his phone to see that he had three new messages from Sebastian.

 _We don't have to get together tonight if you don't want to..._

 _Alec?_

 _I really miss you..._

Alec read the messages, his mind telling him to just say that tonight wouldn't work, but his body was telling him to be near Sebastian. He quickly texted back.

 _Sorry, I'm at dinner with Jace. I miss you too, Seb, but I'm busy tonight._

Jace was looking down at his phone smiling. "We already have thirty RSVPs."

"Wow," Alec said, honestly surprised, "I don't think I even know thirty people."

Jace snorted and rolled his eyes, "That, my brother, is because you go to private school."

Alec rolled his eyes again, finishing off his fries by shoving three in his mouth at once. "Speaking of school, I should probably get home soon. I have a ton of homework to do."

"Okay, that's cool. I'll just drive home and see you there after a while," Jace said, distracted by the silent conversation he was having with thirty people on his phone.

Alec stood up, grabbing a twenty dollar bill out of his wallet and handing it to his brother to pay for the food. "Later," he said, walking outside to his olive green 1974 Mustang fastback. Climbing into the driver's seat of his prized possession, he sped out of the parking lot and down the road to his home. It was only a five minute drive, but Alec enjoyed every second. His car was very special to him, and anyone who knew him knew that. He parked her, yes her, in the garage and headed into the house.

His mother was sitting at the counter in the kitchen absent mindedly snacking on peanuts while reading the newspaper. He walked over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Hey, Mom," he said, stealing a handful of her peanuts and walking over to the fridge to grab a bottle of root beer.

"Hey, honey, how was school?" she asked, putting down the paper.

"Fine," Alec said, not mentioning Sebastian, no matter how much he wanted to. "How was work?"

Maryse grimaced, "I lost the main case I was working on."

"Don't sweat it," Alec said, "You've won almost every case for as long as I can remember. One loss doesn't hurt every once in awhile."

Maryse was saved a reply by Robert walking in. "Hello, Alec," he said, placing a friendly clap on Alec's shoulder blades. "Maryse," he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Though Robert wasn't Alec's biological father, he had raised him since he was very young and had legally adopted him. They had grown very close over the years, and spent many hours together in the garage working on old cars.

"Hi, Dad," Alec said, drinking the rest of his soda before tossing it into the recycling bin.

"You are never going to believe this," Izzy said as she stormed into the room. When no one questioned her, they had learned not to, she continued, "I missed the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show!"

"Victoria's Secret?" Robert said, but was ignored.

"Honey, you can watch it online," Maryse said, her eyes only slightly sympathetic. Izzy went through these tantrums and outbursts on a daily basis.

"But it's not the same!" she said, huffing and sitting down at the kitchen table. Alec sat next to her, putting his book bag on the table and extracting his Advanced Biochemistry book.

He began his homework as Isabelle complained and Maryse tried to reason with her. Just a typical day at the Lightwood house.

"What are you studying?" Robert asked, taking the seat next to Alec. His voice was quiet so as not to disturb his wife's and daughter's conversation.

"Chemiosmosis," Alec said, tilting the book a little so that his father could see. "I have to write a two page essay about it tonight."

Though Robert majored in history and became a recruiter of artifacts for the local museums, science was his minor. "That shouldn't be too hard, right?" he joked, nudging Alec's shoulder teasingly.

"Maybe if I knew what chemiosmosis was," Alec said, his voice slightly exasperated. Robert grabbed a piece of paper and began drawing on it.

"Well, here are the basics..." He continued for an hour, helping Alec with his homework. Jace got home just as Alec finished his essay, and Robert went to his study.

"Alec," Jace said, talking in a whisper as he sat down at the table next to his older brother. No one else was anywhere near them, but he still took precaution. "I have the party in motion. We have over a hundred RSVPs, and I have a DJ booked. I was talking to a friend of mine-"

"Which friend?" Alec asked, knowing most of Jace's good friends.

"Just a friend," he said suspiciously, "And he said that if you're eighteen he knows a guy who can get you alcohol at a good price," Jace was talking excitedly, his blonde hair falling in his face. Alec supposed if they weren't brothers and if Jace weren't so irresponsible that he might be attractive. Most girls thought he was anyway, but Alec didn't look at him like that.

"You're not eighteen," Alec pointed out.

Jace just rolled his eyes, "But you are."

"Absolutely not, Jace," Alec said, almost horrified. His voice rose a little, "I'm not going to go to some shady guy that your friend knows to get you alcohol."

"Shush, Alec!" Jace said, looking around to make sure no one heard. "Come on. It won't be that bad. Please?"

"No, Jace, I'm not going to do it. Just get one of the guys on the football team to do it. Some of them are eighteen, right?" Alec refused to participate in alcohol purchase, consumption, or selling in any way. Despite the kind of siblings he had, he was actually a really good kid.

Jace sighed heavily, "I guess I could ask Will to do it, but he's such a pain in the ass."

"Jace, I've met Will. You are exactly like him," Alec said, rolling his eyes again, "And besides you promised no alcohol anyway."

Jace scoffed, "I lied," he said simply, "You don't have to drink it anyway, Princess."

"Wait, does this mean you lied about setting me up, too?" Alec asked, horror dawning on his face.

"That's exactly what this means," Jace said casually as he looked through his phone for Will's number.

"But-" Alec protested, but Jace held up a hand as he dialed his friend's number.

Will picked up in about four rings. "Will the Handsome speaking."

"It's Jace. I need you to talk to our friend de Quincey and get refreshments for the party. I have two hundred dollars set aside just for the drinks."

Alec didn't hear Will's reply this time, but by the look on Jace's face, he knew that he had agreed. Jace said he would text Will the details and the 'shopping list', as he had called it, before hanging up.

Jace looked up from his phone with a smile only to get a dark glare from his brother. "What?" he asked.

"I don't think we should be doing this party without permission," Alec said, his good boy side showing through. Alec hated lying to his parents, using 'bad words', and procrastinating. Jace often made fun of him, trying to get him to do something bad. Jace always tried to get Alec to let go and do something he would be ashamed of later, but Alec always refused. He was too scared of the consequences.

"Come on, Alec," Jace said, "Don't be such a goody two shoes. Mom and Dad will never even find out."

"I don't know, Jace," Alec said reluctantly. "I think they would be okay with it anyway. They are always trying to get me to make new friends away from the Academy, so they will probably encourage this. I'll just talk to Mom, and-"

"Talk to me about what?" Maryse said, walking into the kitchen. She had previously been in the living room watching Gossip Girl with Isabelle.

Jace's eyes were shooting daggers at Alec while he replied. "We were thinking that maybe this weekend we could have a party with a few people from school and the Academy. Would that be okay?" he asked, his blue puppy dog eyes shining a little.

Maryse looked hesitant. "I don't know, neither I nor Robert will be here," she said. "And I don't really want Max around high school kids." She pondered a moment while making herself a cup of tea.

Jace looked like he was about to punch Alec in the face, but Alec was quick, "I'm eighteen, Mom. I will make sure nothing too crazy happens. And Isabelle said she was going to take Max to see Grandma Phoebe and Grandpa Andrew."

Maryse relented, "Okay, but promise to put away all of the vases and art work. I don't want them damaged."

Alec smiled, "I promise."

"And promise to call if something goes bad?" She said, still weary about the idea.

"Absolutely," Jace said, suddenly not so angry at his brother.

"Okay, but you boys be responsible. And remember, I'm leaving for Philadelphia early in the morning. Robert will be here after school for just a little while, so try to get home in time to say goodbye to him."

"Will do," Jace said, glancing at the clock. It was nearly ten. "Oh, I better start my homework," he said. He walked over to his mother and hugged her, kissing her cheek as well. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Jace."

As he left the room, Maryse poured her water from the kettle, dropping a green tea bag into her cup. "Shouldn't you be getting to bed?" she asked her oldest son, who had been looking back at his textbook.

"I was just going to stay up a little longer and study for my quiz tomorrow," he said, feeling guilty for taking so long of a break.

Maryse walked over to him and closed the book, kissing her son on the head. "You'll do fine. Now get some sleep so you'll be pleasant in the morning."

"Yes ma'am," Alec said, putting his book back into his bag. He zipped it up and kissed his mother on the cheek, "Goodnight, Mom."

"Goodnight, sweetie," she said, patting him on the back.

 **Chapter One is done! Thanks for reading and please leave a review to tell me what you think!**


	2. Fatal Charm

**Chapter Two: Fatal Charm**

Alec pulled into the parking lot at Jace's school. Earlier that morning, before school, Jace had put his car in the shop to get a new paint job, so Alec was stuck being his chauffeur. Today, like every other day, Jace had football practice.

Alec got out of the car, deciding that it would be better to sit in the bleachers and wait rather than in the car.

Unfortunately for him, practice had barely even started. The team was just doing their warm up exercises and stretches. Groaning, Alec sat down and looked down at the field. His own soccer practice had let out early, but that didn't mean he wanted to wait for Jace to finish his practice. Robert was rescheduled to leave at seven, so they had plenty of time, but Alec was irritable. Sebastian had been rather alluring today in his academy uniform shirt and jeans.

Sighing heavily, Alec looked down at the field. Jace was on the far end talking to the coach intently while doing what Alec called the 'Baywatch' stretch. Jace was one of the team's best players despite the fact that he was only a junior. A lot of the senior boys resented him, but they didn't confront him. The only person who did confront Jace was some guy named Magnus. For some reason the two absolutely hated each other. Whenever it was mentioned, Jace claimed it was 'an inexplicable hatred towards a demonic being,' but he never truly explained why they fought. Countless times he's gotten detention for getting into physical fights with the poor boy. Alec thought the cause was probably some sort of primal instinct to fight that caused them to get into so many fist fights, but he was never around to figure out the cause. In fact, he didn't even know what Magnus looked like. Any time he asked Jace why Magnus upset him so much, his brother would reply with a noncommittal insult to Magnus' clothing choices or attitude problem. Although, from living with him, Alec could say Jace had the same problems.

Rolling his eyes just thinking about it, Alec looked around the field. He saw maybe three or four people he recognized, including the infamous Will, but the rest of them were just generic faces in deliciously tight football pants. Even though Alec wasn't even close to being over Sebastian, it was still nice to admire the lovely invention of the football pants. Lost in thought, Alec let his eyes roam around, surprised when they locked in on a sedentary figure. Without realizing it, he had been staring at a boy sitting on the bench for nearly five minutes. The boy sat in bright green skinny jeans and a white long sleeved shirt that seemed to fit him quite nicely. He was watching the football players with a seductive admiration; the same way Alec was looking at him. The gentle wind tousled the boy's midnight hair, not messing it up, but definitely shifting it. He didn't seem to notice as he watched the whole lot of boys doing high knees across the field. From this angle, Alec could only see the side of his face, but what he could see was positively gorgeous. He had a delicate nose that turned up slightly at the end and full lips that had a natural pout to them without being too much. Alec watched delightedly as the boy's tongue licked his plump bottom lip before it was caught between his teeth. Something about this boy was so alluring to Alec. Especially when he leaned forward to rest his right elbow on his knee and his chin on his right hand. The arch of his back made Alec blush. The boy crossed his legs underneath his elbow, making his shirt rise a little in the back. Alec could see a small expanse of tanned skin at the small of his back where his shirt no longer resided. Though he was a fair distance away, he could still see two small dimples.

Practice passed entirely too fast for Alec's taste. He could have spent another hour admiring the thin boy on the bench. Admittedly, it sounded a little creepy in Alec's head, but he knew it was true. There was something about the grace of his movements and the elegance of his face that made Alec stare.

Before he knew it, Jace was standing in front of Alec. "Are you ready, Princess?" he asked, his hair dripping wet from sweat or a shower, Alec didn't know. Judging by the smell that was tossed toward him in the wind, he guessed it to be the former.

"What?" Alec said, drawn out of his gaze by his brother.

"What are you looking at?" Jace asked, following Alec's eyes. Luckily for Alec, the boy had chosen that moment to move. Unfortunately, another boy had stepped near where he was, making it look like Alec was looking at him. Even more unfortunate, that boy was Woolsey Scott. It's not that Alec had something against Woolsey. Quite the opposite. He was fond of him in a sort of jealous way. He was co-captain of the football team with Jace, he had flowing golden brown hair, and surprisingly sharp white teeth. He could also grow a beard that would put any man to shame, but for some crazy reason he kept it shaved. However, it was definitely not him that Alec was staring at.

Jace raised an eyebrow at him, "Woolsey?"

Alec blushed, "I wasn't looking at him, I swear."

"Right," Jace said, "Who were you looking at?"

Alec's blush darkened. "No one," he muttered. He didn't want Jace to set him up with that boy, even though he was extremely attractive. Somehow, he felt like Jace would just mortify him and ruin any chance he had with the mysteriously attractive bench warmer. Besides, he was still planning on Sebastian eventually get back together with him.

Jace seemed to notice his discomfort and didn't say anything more about the subject. "We should probably get home and spend a little time with Dad before he leaves."

Alec agreed easily, leading the way to his car and driving them home.

They were at home in less than ten minutes, sitting down in the living room with their father and siblings.

"Jace," Robert was saying, looking at a checklist that he made. "It's your turn this weekend to do laundry. Isabelle," he said, turning to his adopted daughter, "You have to mop the floors and rotate the sofa cushions," he said, ignoring her small snicker. She always complained that she didn't see the point in rotating the sofa cushions, but Robert insisted it did something for the long term care of the sofa. "And Alec," Robert said, "I need you to wash dishes with Max."

"Yes, sir," Alec said, ruffling Max's hair. Max slapped his hand away, smoothing it down again. Alec just laughed.

"Okay, and don't forget to put away your mother's vases and art for the party. She would die if anything happened to them."

"Don't worry," Jace said, looking utterly relaxed on the sofa. "We'll take care of everything."

Robert looked a little doubtful at Jace, but then he looked to Alec who nodded a silent, 'I'll take care of it.'

"And me and Izzy are going to see Grandma Phoebe and Grandpa Andrew, right?" Max asked.

"Izzy and I," Jace corrected Max's grammar.

"I thought I was going?" Max asked, confusion in his eyes.

"You are," Alec said, "Jace was just being captain of the Grammar Police."

Max nodded, "Oh, okay." Alec could tell that he was a little put down that Jace had corrected him. His cheeks pinked slightly, and he looked down at his hands. Alec was always a little jealous of the way Max looked up to Jace. He knew Max did it subconsciously, but it still hurt a little when he didn't see Alec in the same way.

"Isabelle, do you have enough gas in your car to get you to my parents' house?" Robert asked, half heartedly listening as he was checking down his check list.

"Yeah, I've got enough," she said, almost bitterly. She was in a bad mood because she couldn't go to the party. Maryse had said she didn't want her around a lot of football boys without any adult supervision. Of course, Isabelle pulled the 'Alec's eighteen,' card, but Maryse said by adult she meant twenty one years of age or older. Isabelle had fumed about it since.

"Okay, I think that's all," Robert said, putting down his checklist. He glanced at his watch, "Oh, I'm going to be late," he said. He grabbed his weekend bag, "I'll be in Canada until Saturday. Come give me hugs, then I'll be on my way."

All of the Lightwood children hugged their father before he left with a hurried wave. Max was sitting on the sofa next to Alec who was texting Sebastian on his phone. Jace and Isabelle were each on their own loveseat, busy in their own phone. Max wasn't old enough to get a phone. His parents told him he had to wait until he was thirteen.

Alec glanced down to see a text message from Sebastian. _Are you free tonight?_

Alec looked around to see if anyone was watching him. _I have to get things ready for the party tonight, sorry._ Alec hated lying to Sebastian, but he hated lying to his siblings more.

"What are you blushing at, Princess?" Jace asked. Alec locked his phone looking up. It annoyed him when Jace called him Princess.

"Don't call me that," he said, ignoring the question.

Jace rolled his eyes, "You didn't answer my question." He looked as if he were about to mention something else, but Alec cut him off.

"Nothing, really."

"I don't believe you," Jace said, already moving to steal his phone, but Alec was quicker and he was already running up the stairs to his room. He slammed the door behind him, but Jace was already holding the handle, keeping him from locking it. "You better not be sexting Sebastian," he said as he pushed against the door Alec was leaning on.

"I don't do that!" Alec shouted indignantly even though Sebastian had tried to get him to do it many times.

"Alec, let me in," Jace said, pushing as hard as he could on the door. "You don't need to be texting Sebastian," he said seriously, stopping his push on the door.

Alec opened the door, looking Jace in the eye. He had put his phone in his back pocket so Jace wouldn't steal it right away. "We're just friends, I promise."

Jace didn't seem too happy about this, "You don't need to be friends with him. You're just hormonal, and you can't accept that there is better people for you than him. He broke your heart, and now you are just letting him step all over the pieces. I know that it's your life and your decision, but I hate to see the pain he causes you. And though you're a pain in the ass and I hate to admit it, I want you to be happy."

Alec sighed, "I know," he said, "but Sebastian did make me happy when we were together. It was my fault we broke up."

"It wasn't your fault, Alec. He was just a dick," Jace said.

Alec cringed, "Language, please."

Jace rolled his eyes. "Whatever, just be careful, okay?"

"Okay," Alec agreed. He hated when Jace was right. He knew Sebastian was bad for him, but it took so long for him to get used to Sebastian. He didn't want to have to go through that all for another relationship. "I'll try," Alec said. He didn't know what else to say. He couldn't promise anything because Sebastian made him do things he normally wouldn't do.

Jace looked as if he was going to say something else, but he just crossed his arms and looked at Alec.

Alec sighed, feeling guilty for being so involved with Sebastian. No one in his family approved of him after they broke up the first time. And to be quite honest, no one really approved of him from the beginning. He seemed to have a strong hold over Alec, and he took advantage of that. "I'm sorry, Jace, but I just can't drop him. He means too much to me."

"Listen to me," Jace said, almost aggressively, "He's not worth your time, Alec. I can assure you that. Once you realize I'm right, I will be right here waiting to help you get over him."

Alec didn't say anything, he just nodded, feeling exasperated. Jace looked hesitant, but he left, leaving Alec alone with his thoughts.

(Line Break)

Jace sat down in his last hour the next day, hating that he didn't have his car back yet. The shop said it would be done by today. Sighing, he pulled out his notebook. History was the worst possible way to end his day. He used to have football last hour, but coach changed it to after lunch so that the boys had more time to practice if they had free lunch. This class was also the worst because he had to sit next to the egotistical fancy pants Magnus Bane. That pompous jerk always had comments to make about Jace.

Groaning, Jace saw said pompous jerk walk in and sit down.

"Afternoon, pantyflosser," Magnus said, sitting down and pulling out his notebook.

"Afternoon, spermstick," Jace quipped, both of them starting to copy down today's notes on Ancient Egyptian religion. Just like every other day, they sat in complete silence until the teacher, Mr. Blackwell, told everyone to partner up with their assigned partners for the year to write a brief explanation of the origin of the 'light as a feather' simile. Unfortunately, Jace's assigned partner was Magnus. That not only meant he had to talk to the disco ball, but he also had to do most of the work.

"It's obviously because the Egyptians believed when you died, your heart was weighed and if it was light you were innocent," Jace said, mainly to himself, already getting out a piece of paper and writing his thoughts down.

"You're such a dumbass," Magnus said, taking the piece of paper and writing his name in swooping letters at the top. "You have to be more specific if you want to get credit." He began writing swiftly, the words in perfect script. "You didn't even mention Anubis or the Hall of Maat."

Jace rolled his eyes, "I think you're an Anubis," he muttered. He grabbed the paper back, writing more so that it didn't look like Magnus did all of the work.

"I wasn't done, dickweed," Magnus said, grabbing the paper back.

Jace went to reach for it again, but Magnus dropped an elbow into his ribs hard enough to stop him. In retaliation, Jace pinched the underside of Magnus' arm where the skin was most tender. Magnus jerked his arm away before turning to Jace and landing a punch against his shoulder. Jace ignored the pain it brought and shoved Magnus roughly. He fell out of his chair, causing the rest of the students to turn around to see what had caused the commotion. Before Mr. Blackwell could say anything, Magnus was out of his chair, tackling Jace to the ground and punching him hard in the face. Jace didn't wait for the second punch, forcing Magnus off of him before kneeing him in the ribs. They both scrambled on the floor, throwing punches, elbows, and knees where they could, hoping to injure the other. After Jace's cheek had a long scratch and Magnus' lip was split, Mr. Blackwell had finally pulled them apart with the help of Woolsey Scott. Woolsey had grabbed Magnus by the loops of his jeans and pulled him across the floor away from Mr. Blackwell who had stepped between them. They both got to their feet, blood dripping down Magnus' chin, and a dark bruise forming on Jace's jaw. Magnus was glaring at Jace with the most murderous look he had ever seen on anyone.

Unsurprisingly, this was normal. There was something that always caused he and Magnus to fight. This was probably the fifth or sixth time they've gotten into a fight in the past month. Neither boy knew why, maybe it was medieval urge to battle, but they couldn't be in the same room. It was always because of something stupid, too. One time, they got into a fist fight because Jace said vanilla ice cream was the best and Magnus said it was chocolate.

"Principal's Office," Mr. Blackwell said, motioning for Woolsey to help him escort the boys to the principal.

Once they were both sitting alone in the office waiting for Mr. Morgenstern, Magnus looked over at Jace. "This is all your fault," he said, matter of factly.

"Pray tell, how is this my fault," Jace asked, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.

"Because, if you weren't such a dumbass, I wouldn't have had to take the paper from you."

"If you would have let me finish, I would have mentioned those stupid things in the next paragraph."

"Whatever, Blondie. You don't know Anubis from Amadeus."

Jace was about to respond, but was interrupted by Mr. Morgenstern walking in with the football coach, Coach Bartholomew. "What is this, boys, the fifth time I've seen you since school began a month ago?" Mr. Morgenstern asked, his dull hair slicked back smoothly.

"Sixth," Jace and Magnus said in unison.

"The sixth time. This has to be a new record. I think this time, we are going with two days of after school detention, but you are both allowed to go to the football game and any other after school event." Though Mr. Morgenstern was typically very intimidating, he seemed to have a soft spot for Jace. Probably because Jace was a lot like his younger son who had passed away after a car accident a few years ago.

"But-" Magnus protested. He did not want to go to detention. But at least he could go to the football game. The only reason he was the waterboy was so he could watch the sweaty players in their tight pants tackling each other. It was the highlight of his week.

"No buts," Coach Bartholomew said firmly. "Last year I made exceptions for you two, but this year I'm not putting up with it." His thick brown hair was unruly, not unlike every other day. "The next time I hear that you two have been fighting, you're both off the team. No waterboy," he said pointing to Magnus, "and no quarterback," he said pointing to Jace. "Do I make myself clear, boys?"

"Yes, sir," they said, dully together.

"I'm going to call your parents to inform them. We will be running a late bus when detention is over if you do not have a ride," he said, obviously having said that sentence to many students over the years. "Now get back to class," he said, looking down at the paperwork on his desk.

Jace and Magnus got up, leaving the office together. Coach followed not far behind, offering a "Stay out of trouble," before walking in the opposite direction.

A stony silence weighed on their shoulders as they made it back to their last class, both of them dreading 'beginning of the year' detention. No one would be in there but them and Mr. Pangborn. Jace sighed, as the last bell rang when they reached the classroom. He fought the crowd to get back in and gather his things before heading down the hall to detention.

(Line Break)

Alec was concentrating on not getting his school uniform stained as he poured an agar solution into a plate. He was fairly excited for this lab. They got to examine bacteria growth from different samples around the school to see where was the dirtiest. As he finished pouring the plates, Sebastian came up next to him.

"You free tonight?" he asked, leaning against the lab counter and watching Alec as he started putting the lids on the plates.

"I have soccer until four thirty," Alec said, a blush on his cheeks, "but after that, I'm free."

Sebastian nodded slowly before lowering his voice, "You wanna bang?" he asked, unceremoniously.

Alec's cheeks darkened more, and he almost dropped the plates he was carefully carrying to the incubator. "Do you have to say it like that?" he asked, wishing that Sebastian was a little more subtle and romantic.

"Would you rather I say screw?"

"No," Alec said immediately. Though he didn't like either crude term, screw always gave him really weird images in his head.

"Bang it is," he said, both of them walking over to the supply closet as their teacher told them it was time to start cleaning up. "So, what do you say?" he asked, removing his white lab apron and folding it up.

"I don't know, Seb," Alec said, biting his bottom lip. He removed his goggles, putting them back into the box they came from. A few other students were in the closet with them, so Alec chose his words carefully. "Maybe we should postpone, or something," he said, turning around so his back was to Sebastian. "Untie me?" he asked, referring to his apron.

Sebastian's hands went to the knot at the small of his back, fingers grazing against him through his uniform blazer.

"You just said you weren't doing anything," Sebastian said, opening the knot and letting his hands slide down Alec's back to touch his ass through his pants.

Alec took off the apron, folding it and putting it away. "I'm not really in the mood," Alec said quietly. He was hoping that Sebastian would want to hang out just to hang out. Maybe they could go on a date, or get dinner or something. Not just have sex.

They walked out of the closet back into the classroom. Because they go to a private school, this class only had eleven students and one teacher. Everyone was sitting on top of their desks or standing around with their backpacks on, waiting for the final dismissal bell.

"I can get you in the mood," Sebastian said, running his hand up Alec's thigh as they collected their things from their desks.

Alec swatted his hand away with a blush. "No," he said while Sebastian pouted. Yes, he loved sex with Sebastian, but he wanted to date him again. He wanted the cute little moments where they just hold hands and smile at each other. He wanted to call him his boyfriend. He didn't want to be his dirty little secret, and he most certainly didn't want to be his friend with benefits. Had it been anyone else who asked him, he would have rejected immediately, but with Sebastian, everything was different. He would do anything for him.

"Come on, Alec," he said with a nudge to the shoulder, "It's been so long."

Alec's fingers played with the bottom hem of his heather grey uniform blazer before moving to pick imaginary fuzz off of his dark wash jeans. "Can we just go to dinner instead?" he asked shyly. His cheeks tinted a light pink, and he avoided looking at Sebastian.

Sebastian seemed to stiffen next to him a little, "Alec, we aren't together anymore-"

"I know, I know," Alec said, wishing he hadn't said anything. "Nevermind. I'll just go home." He felt close to tears from embarrassment and longing to have his relationship back the way it was.

Sebastian was about to say something, probably about them getting together later, when the PA speaker silenced the entire class.

"Mr. Henry," the office lady's nasally voice reverberated through the room.

"Yes?" he said, sitting at his desk with his glasses halfway down his nose.

"We need Alexander Lightwood in the office before the bell rings. He has a message here from his mother."

"Thank you," Mr. Henry said, looking at Alec and jerking a thumb to tell him silently to go to the office.

Alec got up muttering a half hearted goodbye to Sebastian before walking down to the main office. Once the lady saw him, she handed him a piece of paper that had been scribbled on. He read the message as the bell rang, dismissing all students from school.

Apparently, Jace got detention again. Which meant, Alec would have to pick him up at four thirty at the school across town. Alec groaned and made his way to the soccer locker rooms. Coach Aldertree was sitting on the bench outside the door, looking down at his clipboard intensely. "Hey, Coach," Alec said after he had changed into his green and gold soccer uniform.

"What's up, Lightwood?" he said, looking up from his clipboard. He was a generally happy man who often talked to the boys like they were friends. It sounded weird, but he was only about twenty five, so it wasn't that odd.

"I have to leave practice early today. My brother got detention and I have to pick him up."

Aldertree frowned for a second before shrugging. "As long as you finish thirty laps, twenty five push ups, and three practice drills with the rest of the team, you're free to go."

"Thanks, Coach," Alec said, running out onto the field and starting his laps.

It was four forty by the time Alec made it over to Jace's school. He was still sweaty and in his soccer uniform, but he figured he could just shower at home. He felt kind of bad for being so late, but when he walked into the detention room, he saw that there was still someone else there as well.

It was the waterboy from yesterday. Alec nearly drooled when he saw that the boy had a split lip, and bruised knuckles. He was leaning back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling like he was bored out of his mind. He wore tight cheetah print pants with a black three quarter sleeve cotton shirt. His pant legs were tucked into black boots that went halfway up his shin, and his hair was mussed. He looked like the epitome of badass and sex mashed into one. Alec's eyes slid all the way down his body and back up. When he reached his face, he realized that the boy was looking back at him with a smirk that made Alec's stomach do somersaults. His eyes were so striking. Despite his smooth, tanned skin, he had the most beautiful green eyes that seemed to glow.

Alec's mouth went dry, and he tore his eyes away, feeling a blush stain his pale cheeks.

"Hello," Mr. Pangborn said. He recognized Alec because Jace had detention so much. They didn't exactly know each other's names, but they were acquainted enough so that they greeted each other.

"Good Afternoon," Alec said politely.

Jace looked up from his book when he heard Alec's voice. "Finally," he said, grabbing his backpack and getting up. "I thought you forgot about me, dear brother."

"Soccer ran late," Alec said, blushing and rubbing his elbow as he remembered hitting it on the goal.

"Doesn't matter," Jace said, nearly pushing Alec out of the classroom. "Later, Pangborn," Jace said.

"Goodbye, Mr. Lightwood."

Alec and Jace made their way down the hallway, towards the exit. "W-who was that in there?" Alec asked, trying to subdue his blush and sound casual.

Jace gave him a side glance, eyebrows furrowed. "You know Pangborn. He's just the freshman lit teacher."

"No, I meant the other guy," Alec said, trying as hard as he could to sound like he wasn't dying to know the answer.

Jace rolled his eyes. "If you can even call him a guy," he said, pushing the school door open and looking around for Alec's car. "That's the enemy and the reason I cry myself to sleep at night," Jace said, spotting Alec's car and walking towards it.

"Magnus?" Alec asked, not exactly sure if he was correct.

Well, he was almost positive he was correct, but he didn't want it to be true.

"Yes, Magnus," Jace said, getting into the car and tossing his backpack into the back seat. Alec followed suit, starting up the car and pulling out of the parking lot. "Why do you want to know, anyway?" Jace asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

Alec cursed his pale skin for showing his blush so easily. "No reason. I... I just haven't seen him before is all."

"Right," Jace said, making Alec think that he didn't believe him.

Alec decided in that moment he could never tell Jace he thought Magnus was the most attractive person he had ever seen.

 **Review? Pleasy please? I hope this story is going well. I'm really working hard on it. Thanks for all of the follows/favorites/reviews! You guys are the best!**


	3. Lethal Crush

**Chapter Three: Lethal Crush**

"Magnus, I haven't seen you all day. Where the hell have you been hiding?" Camille asked, sitting down next to Magnus with a spinach salad on her tray. Magnus seemed to have popped out of a trance, looking down at his own salad that he hadn't touched.

"Do you know anything about Jace Lightwood's brother?" he asked, completely ignoring her question. He dropped his fork into his salad, not bothering with it at the moment.

Camille found his question odd. He absolutely hated Jace Lightwood, so why would he care anything about his brother. "I don't know much, why?"

Magnus bit his lip and scrunched his eyebrows together. Camille knew that look. It was the infamous 'Magnus has an embarrassing crush on someone' look.

"Magnus Bane," Camille said, blatantly surprised. "You have a crush on Blondie's brother?"

Magnus shushed her, smiling widely. He loved to talk about crushes. Not many people could tell because he was so calm and collected around everyone else, but he was a sucker for puppy love. He only shared his giggling crush smitten self with his closest friends. Everyone else just saw the kick ass bisexual guy who was always cool and domineering or sparking up a fist fight. "He came into detention yesterday to pick up Goldilocks, and he was sweaty and wearing a soccer uniform. It was the hottest thing I've ever seen. He walked in and looked at me and blushed. I swear to god, his cheeks were red."

"That's adorable," Camille said. "Did he say anything to you?"

Magnus pouted for a second, "No, but I did catch him checking me out. That's got to be a good sign right?"

"Of course," Camille said, eating her salad with sips of water in between bites. "Did you check him out? How was his body?" she asked, having never seen the boy except in pictures that just had his face.

Magnus moaned, shoving his salad aside so he could put his elbow on the table and rest his head on his hand. "Heavenly," he said. "His legs were long and thin, but toned with a little extra muscle in the thighs. And his chest is broad, but not too broad. It's very natural and sexy looking," Magnus gushed. "And good god," Magnus moaned again, "he has the best ass I've ever seen on anyone. I swear if he had walked by a little closer, I would've grabbed it. It was so big and round," Magnus broke off for a moment, fanning himself and taking a drink from his water bottle.

"On a scale of one to ten, how does his ass rate?" Camille asked, knowing that Magnus rarely rated an ass over a six.

"Nine," he said without hesitation. "It's that good."

"No fucking way," Camille said, astonished. This guy had to be super attractive for Magnus to rate him so well.

"You know when we went to see X-men Origins: Wolverine, and Hugh Jackman ran across the field naked?"

"Duh, who could forget that?"

Magnus bit his lip again, closing his eyes and sighing for a moment, "He has an ass just like that. It's fucking huge and perfect. I wish I could join whatever soccer team he's on so I could see it in the locker room."

"Whoa," Camille said, not wanting Magnus to get too excited about this while they were sitting in the cafeteria, "Calm down, Frisky," she said, using the nickname she had for him when he talked about being hot and bothered, "You don't even know his name."

"Do you know it?" Magnus asked, taking another drink from his water. "You said you didn't know much, that implies that you know something."

Camille smirked, loving that she finally had information that Magnus wanted. "I might know a few things about Mr. Lightwood, yes," she said, laughing when Magnus almost cut off her circulation with the grip he had on her hand.

"Tell. Me. Everything," he demanded, a crazed look in his eye.

"Fine," she relented, "His name is Alec Lightwood. He goes to some high strung private school across town because his mom is rich as fuck. And..." she hesitated, trying to think of something else to supply Magnus with, "I think he's a junior, but I'm not sure. He could be a senior."

Magnus sucked in every piece of information she gave him. "Ugh, I want to screw that boy until he can't see straight. Can you find out more? I know you have ways."

"Jace is having a big party this weekend, and I'm invited. I promise I'll rip info out of everyone and get back to you. Do you want to go to the party with me?" she asked almost as an afterthought. Camille was always invited to parties because she was fairly... social. Magnus was always invited as well, except to Jace's parties for obvious reasons.

"No way," he said, making a face of disgust. "There's no way I'm stepping into Jace Lightwood's home."

Camille scoffed, "Then how do you plan on screwing Alec? They live in the same house."

Magnus' mouth opened in surprise as if he had only just realized that. "How can something so gorgeous live with something so grotesque?" he asked, shooting a disgusted look over at Jace's table.

"Jace isn't that bad," Camille said, already texting Jace that she would be at his party. "You just hate him because he was an ass to you in the eighth grade."

Magnus frowned, remembering their first fight. "Eighth grade was a hard time for me," Magnus muttered. "Anyway," he said, changing the subject and lightening the mood. "Do you have any new crushes?"

Camille mentally told herself to keep a straight face and not to look in Magnus' eye as she lied, "Nope," she said casually, proud at how smooth it sounded. It wasn't that she liked lying to her best friend. In fact, she hated it, but she wasn't ready to tell Magnus about the new girl in her gym class. She had only recently started admiring her; her soft dark skin, her beautiful and delicate facial features, and her perfect body. She didn't want to say anything in case it was just a one week crush. She only wanted to talk about it if she was sure it would last. So, Camille kept her mouth shut, but her mind instantly began wandering to thoughts of Maia.

(Line Break)

Alec walked around the house, looking for any of his mother's prized vases that he might have left out. He didn't want the party goers to ruin her favorite Ming vase. Checking one more time in the hall, he decided that he had hidden all of them under the sink already.

"Alec!" Jace yelled as he walked into the house, looking completely pissed off.

"What's wrong?" Alec asked, starting to roll up their expensive Persian rugs to put them into the closet.

"My car is not working. I just got her back this morning, and she decides to bum out on me."

Alec, having spent many weekends and summers with his adoptive father, knew almost everything there was to know about fixing cars. "What's wrong with her?" he asked, delicately putting the rug into the closet before following Jace out to look at his car. Jace, even after living with Alec and Maryse since he was in third grade, didn't like using their money. He spent the entire summer working just so that he could buy the car on his own, but it broke down so much, that Alec thought he would put aside his pride and use their money to buy himself a car that works.

"She keeps overheating. I barely drove two miles before I had to shut it off and let it cool down."

Alec popped the hood on Jace's '99 mustang, leaning over the engine. He was glad he had changed into a plain white t-shirt instead of his school uniform, because he somehow managed to stain all of his clothes with grease. "Your fan belt is trashed," he came to the conclusion, pointing to the broken part.

"What does that mean?" Jace asked, not at all seeing what Alec was pointing to. Everything looked fine to him.

"That means you have to buy a new one before you drive again. Without the fan belt, your radiator is overheating all the time," he explained, pulling out the broken rubber like belt from the car carefully. Like predicted, he got oil smeared on his white t-shirt. He handed Jace the broken belt, then his car keys.

"Take that down to the auto store and get a new one. I'll put it on for you when you get back," he said, walking back into the house as Jace got into his brother's car and left for the auto store.

Alec triple checked to make sure all of the valuable things in the house were stashed out of harm's way. He then started putting out bowls of chips and bottles of soda onto the counter. Jace came in soon after, two boxes full of alcohol. "I got the good stuff," he said happily, putting the boxes on the counter.

Alec looked at him, horrified. "I thought you were going in to get a new fan belt?" he asked.

Jace barely heard him, "What? Oh, uh, yeah, I got it," he said, reaching into one of the boxes and pulling it out. Alec rolled his eyes, taking the belt away from him.

"So, I guess you got Will to get the drinks," Alec said, walking out towards Jace's car. He tossed it on the hood, knowing that he wouldn't have enough time to put it on and change before the party.

"Sure did. This party is going to be awesome!" Jace said, getting pumped up. "We have at least a hundred RSVPs, but I told them they could all bring a friend if they wanted."

"I, uh, invited a few people from the Academy," Alec said casually. They walked back up to Alec's room where he took off his stained shirt and replaced it with a button down black shirt and a dark blue tie. He tucked the shirt into a pair of khaki pants and slipped on his black Lunar Wingtip shoes.

"Did you invite Sebastian?" Jace asked. They walked down the stairs, Jace not bothering to change out of his blue jeans and maroon long sleeved shirt.

Alec avoided eye contact as he turned on the music. "Yeah, along with all of my other friends and the soccer team."

"Alec," Jace groaned, following his brother around as he finished setting up the house for the party.

"I'm sorry," Alec said quietly. He knew how much Jace hated Sebastian, yet he couldn't let go of him. Sebastian was his first boyfriend, kiss, and the one he lost his virginity to. He was ashamed that he let all of those things go only to one person and to be dumped a day after their first time together. He learned everything with Sebastian and took time to get used to being intimate with a person. He didn't want to have to go through that with another stranger.

"Hey," Jace said, getting his attention. "I can introduce you to a few guys from my school, and if you don't have any interest in any of them, then you can tell me I'm wrong. Just give these guys a chance first. You may like them a lot more. Just promise me you won't spend all night trying to get your hand in Sebastian's pants."

"Please don't speak like that. It's so uncouth." Jace held his stern look. "Fine," Alec relented, his voice barely audible over the music.

The doorbell rang and Jace perked up. "The party has begun!" he yelled as he ran to answer the door. Alec watched as a crowd of about thirty muscled boys walked into the living room.

Jace came back over to his brother, putting a hand on his back and leading him over to some people. He whispered in his ear, "If they are gay, I will give you a pat on the back as I introduce you."

Alec blushed, but nodded. The first boy they walked up to was short with sandy blonde hair.

"Hey, Kirk," Jace said, "This is my brother Alec," he patted Alec's back with a smile, silently questioning to see if Alec liked him. "Alec, this is Kirk. He's on the team with me."

"Nice to meet you, Alec," Kirk said, extending a hand. Alec shook it, slightly disgusted by his own sweaty palm in Kirk's dry, calloused one.

"You as well," Alec said, feeling Jace's analyzing gaze on him. He glanced over at his brother, sharing a discreet and short look that told him he was not interested.

"If you will excuse us," Jace said to Kirk, "I have a lot of people to introduce Alec to."

The doorbell rang, and Alec moved to get it. Jace hissed that he had better find him as soon as he opened the door for the guest, but Alec paid little attention. He opened the door apprehensively to see three girls standing behind it.

"You must be Alec," the girl in the middle said with a sly smile. She had lavender blonde hair that fell to the small of her back and a black three quarters sleeved dress that barely reached the middle of her thigh. The girls on either side of her also had on short dresses but in pink and green colors. "I'm Camille. This is Aline," she pointed to her left, "and Catarina," she pointed to her right.

"Please, come in," Alec said, moving to the side so the girls could step in. They walked in, strutting in their six inch heels. Alec thought briefly that it must be hard to walk in the grass with those heels before he shut the door.

He found Jace again standing next to the banister. "Oh, Alec, this is Nate. Nate, this is my brother Alec," Jace said. Alec almost frowned when there wasn't a pat on his back. Nate was fairly attractive.

"Jace, aren't you going to introduce me?" A girl who had obviously had a nose job or two whined, tucking dark chestnut hair behind her ear.

"Yes, how could I forget?" Jace said almost sarcastically, but the girl didn't seem to notice. "This is Jessamine."

"You can call me Jess, Jessie, Jay. Anything like that," she said, extending her manicured hand.

Alec took it, giving her a small smile as Jace mumbled a few not so polite names that he might call her. "Nice to meet you," he said politely.

"I do hope you aren't being insensitive, Jessie," a boy with dark grey eyes that were almost black said with a teasing tone.

"Shove it, Jem," Jessamine snarled, grabbing Nate's hand and dragging him away.

"Someone's a bit touchy today," Jace said, looking after Jessamine with distaste.

"That's probably my fault," Jem said guiltily. "I told her she was being insensitive to Magnus when she was talking about him being gay."

"Dumb fag deserved it," Will said walking up. Alec had known Will for a long time and had gotten used to his pompous attitude, but Jace and Jem both reprimanded him.

"Language, William," Jem said at the same time Jace said, "Don't be an asshole." Both of them looked down at the ground, not wanting to anger Will or make Alec more embarrassed.

Alec felt a little awkward. He knew for a fact that Jace only scolded Will for using such slang when he was around. To be quite honest, he wasn't confident that Jace didn't use derogatory terms like that when he wasn't around.

Will seemed to notice what he had done and immediately paled. "Sorry," he mumbled, scratching the back of his neck.

Luckily, the doorbell rang again. "I'll get it," Alec said, already halfway down the hall. He was relieved when he opened the door, and his friends were all standing there looking awkward and excited. "Hey, guys," he said with a smile. His friends, all six of them, tried to say hello at the same time. Alec stepped aside, letting them in along with a few of Jace's acquaintances who had showed up at the same time.

Clary, Eric, Simon, Raphael, Jordan, and Sebastian followed Alec into the living room and sat down on the sofas together. Even in the short time it took to get to the other room, more and more people started pouring in. Within the next five minutes, at least fifty people had entered the house.

"This is a pretty big party," Clary said.

"Yeah, you'd think it was a midnight release of a Halo game," Simon said.

Sebastian rolled his eyes, leaning back and resting his left ankle on his right knee. He made eye contact with Alec, lifting his eyebrow in question. Alec looked away and pretended he didn't see Sebastian's glance. Out of the corner of his eye, though, he saw Sebastian roll his eyes again.

"I think I'm going to get a drink, does anyone want anything?" Alec asked, standing up abruptly.

"Cherry cola," Clary said.

Simon raised a finger, "Gingerale."

"Limeade with vodka," Jordan requested.

"Same," Raphael said, his eyes on some girl across the room.

"I don't want anything, but thanks," Eric said, standing up and walking over to where two girls were chatting.

"I'll help you," Sebastian said, following Alec as he went to the kitchen. The room was empty of people, but the tables and counter were filled with food and drinks.

"Are we going to hook up tonight?" Sebastian asked casually.

Alec bit his lip as he started pouring drinks. "Yes." It was quiet and simple.

Sebastian smiled next to him, helping him fill the drinks. "It's been a while," he said, putting down the soda bottle and running his hand up Alec's back. "When do you want to do it?"

Alec almost pouted, "I don't know. I thought we could maybe talk for a while first. Just the two of us."

"Alec," Sebastian said exasperated.

"I know," Alec said, biting his lip and looking down. He felt as if he were about to cry. "You don't want to be my boyfriend."

"Hey," Sebastian's voice softened in a way that reminded Alec why he loved him. His hand pulled Alec closer and he kissed his neck. "We're friends, Alec. Don't get so stressed over labels."

Alec nodded with a shaky sigh as Sebastian's hand massaged his tense shoulder. "Okay, Seb."

"Now come one," Sebastian said, trying to lighten the mood. "Let's get these drinks back before they come looking for us.

(Line Break)

Camille sat on the sofa watching the people circulating throughout the room. She spotted Alec sitting with a group of people who were all laughing and drinking from plastic cups. One of the group members stood up and started walking over to her. He was wearing dark wash jeans and a white t-shirt. His hair was curly and dark and fell to his chin. Barely visible along the neck of the shirt was a gold cross chain. Camille gave him a flirty smile as he sat down next to her.

"I'm Raphael," he said, putting his arm on the sofa back behind her.

"Camille," she said, taking a sip of pink lemonade. "What brings you here?" she asked, casting a quick glance towards Alec. She noticed he was sitting abnormally close to the boy with dark eyes.

"I'm a friend of Alec's. I'm assuming you're a friend of Jace's? God knows Alec couldn't get a girl as pretty as you to come to a party.

"Oh?" she said, crossing her legs and clicking one of her heels on the floor. "Why not? He seems cute enough."

Raphael laughed, "He may be cute, but he'd rather invite Lance Bass than Britney Spears."

"He's gay." Camille confirmed her suspicion. "Is he dating that boy he's sitting next to?" she asked, nodding in their direction.

Raphael grimaced, "Not exactly. It's sort of complicated with those two."

"What do you mean?" Camille asked. Raphael looked hesitant, but Camille turned on the charm and ran her hand down his thigh to his knee.

"It's been off and on for the past year or so. Right now they aren't dating, but all of us know they will get back together. Sebastian, well, he's not going to find someone better than Alec. The boy used to do everything for him. He still does, actually. And Alec, he's stuck on Seb because he was his first everything. They claim they aren't together, but me and Simon have a bet that they are secretly dating."

Camille lifted a perfectly shaped eyebrow, "Why would they date secretly? Why not be public?"

Raphael blew hair out of his eyes, "Alec's family, especially his brother, hates Sebastian. They think he's a total asshole. Which really sucks for Alec because all he wants to do is please everyone."

"That is unfortunate," Camille agreed absentmindedly. She watched Alec's face as he was listening to Sebastian. It was a look of pure devotion and almost a hint of sadness. "Why did they break up in the first place?"

Raphael sighed. Camille could tell he was fed up with her questions, but she wasn't going to stop until she got everything she could out of him.

"They broke up because Alec was ashamed of him at first. He refused to introduce him to his parents, and every time someone at school would ask him if they were dating, he would claim that it wasn't serious. Sebastian got tired of it and broke it off. About a month later, they were back together. Alec brought him home only to find out no one liked him. I can understand why too. Seb can be a little too demanding of him sometimes. He takes advantage of the fact Alec would do anything for him. And of course, Alec never does anything about it. He just goes on being ordered around like a slave. And they broke up again after only a month of dating because Alec's family was so harsh about them dating. Alec seeks approval so much from his step dad because his real dad never gave him the time of day. He doesn't talk about it much, but when I first asked him about his dad, he got really quiet and said that he wasn't around long enough for Alec to remember him. Of course, I think he remembers him, but he doesn't want to talk about it. So, I don't push him. He's scary when he's angry."

"Does he get angry a lot?" Camille asked, her toes slipping out of her shoe and caressing Raphael's shin.

Raphael scoffed, "No. I've seen him angry twice in the past ten years I've known him. Once when his brother told his parents about him being gay before he was out to them, and once at Sebastian. I don't really know what it was about, but they got into this huge screaming fight. It was really scary. Mainly because Alec refuses to use 'foul language' as he calls it. I've never even heard him say 'freaking.' He's got quite a vocabulary to make up for it though. He called Jace a mumpsimus cockalorum. I don't even know what the hell that means."

"Interesting." Camille watched carefully as Sebastian whispered something in Alec's ear when none of their friends were looking. He then got up, leaving Alec behind, and went upstairs.

"Yeah, later he was really upset with himself, so he apologized to Jace and everyone who was in the room at the time. He's really considerate of other people," Raphael said as if he was realizing it himself for the first time. "I don't remember the last time he picked what movie we all saw."

"Is he really close with his brother?" Camille asked as Jace walked up to Alec and sat next to him.

"Oh definitely. They spend tons of time together. Alec usually invites him to go along with us when we go out." Raphael moved his arm closer around Camille's shoulders. "Actually, we are going out for dinner before the football game next Friday. Would you like to join us?"

Camille had no intention of ever dating this guy, but he was providing her with bountiful information. "I'll consider dinner, but I'm cheering at the football game, honey." She tried not to sound condescending, but his arm around her shoulders was trying her patience.

"You're a cheerleader? That's great. You know, I play on the soccer team for the Academy. Maybe you could watch me play sometime."

Camille smiled briefly. "Maybe." She spotted another of Alec's friends break from the group; the red headed girl. "If you'll excuse me, I have mingling to do," she said leaving Raphael far behind.

The girl was heading for the back door, presumably to get some fresh air. Camille followed suit, slipping out the door before the short girl could close it.

"Sorry," she muttered, her pink shirt and green slacks making her look like a grown up version of Strawberry Shortcake.

"It's fine," Camille said, leaning back against the brick mansion while the other girl sat on the outdoor swing. "I'm Camille by the way."

"Clary," she replied shortly. She looked down at her feet, not seeming to have the party energy that was flowing throughout the house.

"Are you having a good time?" Camille asked, pulling a cigarette out of her purse and lighting up.

"Yeah, I guess. Sebastian's just being an asshole," she muttered the last part, but Camille caught it.

"You want to talk about it, doll?" Camille asked.

"I don't want to bore you," Clary said, blushing that Camille had heard her.

"I don't get bored easily," Camille said, sitting down next to the red head, and taking a long drag from her cigarette.

Clary hesitated, but finally gave in, "Sebastian is my friend Alec's ex boyfriend," Clary explained even though Camille already knew this. "Ever since they broke up, he's been acting like a total douche. I mean he was a douche before, but it's twice as bad now. Everything Alec says he contradicts, and he insults him all the time. Alec refuses to say anything because he doesn't want Sebastian to get mad at him."

"Does Alec still have feelings for Sebastian?" Camille asked, her cigarette running short.

"Unfortunately. I feel so sorry for Alec. He does everything he can for Sebastian, and Sebastian doesn't even care. A few minutes ago, Sebastian called Alec childish and ignorant. That kind of stuff really sticks with Alec, you know? He hates to admit it, but he's very sensitive to others." Clary rolled her eyes. "I really like Alec. He's hardworking, and he cares a lot."

"Sounds like he's a great guy," Camille said thoughtfully. From the way his friends talk about him, he would be perfect for Magnus.

"He is," Clary said, standing up. "I better get back to Simon before he does something stupid. Thanks for listening, Camille."

"Anytime, babe," Camille said, watching Clary go back inside.

Lucky for Camille, her next information supplier came to her. "Is Clary out here?" a tall boy with thin rimmed glasses asked.

"She just left," Camille said, crossing her legs in a way that would make the nerdy boy want to stay. "Did you need something?" she asked, licking her cherry red lips.

"Uh," the boy seemed flustered. "N-not really. I'm Simon, by the way," he said, holding out a hand.

Camille shook it with a sly smile. "I'm Camille. It's so nice to meet you, Simon. Would you like to sit down?" she asked, not leaving much room for him on the chair.

"Um," Simon seemed to be debating whether or not he should go look for Clary. "Sure. I'll sit. Just for a minute though."

"Excellent," Camille purred as he sat down next to her. "Are you enjoying the party?"

"Yeah. I'm not one for parties with so little games, but it's not been bad. I got twenty bucks," he boasted.

"How'd you come about that?" Camille asked, wondering how she could score money at this party.

"My friend Raphael and I had a bet that Alec and Sebastian would disappear together tonight. He said they wouldn't because it was too dangerous with Jace around, but I said that they would have plenty of opportunities with Jace being the host and all. And behold, our blue eyed wonder and asshole friend cannot be found. Not that we would want to find them right now of course," Simon muttered the last part, looking down at the twenty dollar bill in his hand. "What about you? Are you having fun?" he asked, looking over in her direction, but not making eye contact.

"Oh yes," Camille said, thinking that she'd had a lot more success than she thought she would.

"That's good," Simon said, obviously not knowing what to talk about. "So, you, uh, go to school with Jace?"

"Yes, I'm a cheerleader. Jace and I aren't that close, but I suppose no one here really is except his brother," she casually brought the conversation back to Alec without being too obvious.

"Yeah, Jace seems like the loner type to me," Simon said. "Doesn't seem to be close to anyone. God only knows why Alec invites him to everything we do. He and his asshole friends kill our vibes, you know?"

"Yes, I know. The group Jace hangs out with are not always tolerable. Some of them aren't so bad, though," Camille said thoughtfully, her mind wandering to Maia from her gym class.

"I guess I should go find Clary," Simon said, noticing that Camille wasn't interested in the conversation anymore. "It was nice meeting you, Camille."

"The pleasure was mine," she purred, watching the nerdy boy awkwardly walk back into the house, like he might say something else, but decided against it.

Camille sat in silence for a few moments, lighting another cigarette. "Those aren't good for you, you know?" Maia said, taking a seat next to Camille.

Camille smiled, "That may be true, but they make me look good."

Maia pulled her knees up to her chest, looking out into the darkness, rather than at the blonde next to her. "You don't need a cigarette to look good," she said quietly, her fingers fiddling with the hem of her army pants.

"That's very kind of you," Camille said, her heart racing at the compliment. She and Maia had only spoken as friends before, but they shared a few classes, and Camille had tried to show her interest before. Of course, Maia was shy and didn't notice, or didn't want to notice, her attempts at flirting. Now it seemed as though she had changed her mind. "I love your top," Camille said, trying to ease Maia into a conversation.

Maia looked down at her lacy tan tank top. "Thanks."

Camille heard her cell phone ringing. She noticed immediately that it was Magnus. "Magnus, what's wrong?" she asked, knowing he would never call her at a party for fear that she might be... _socializing._

"I need to talk to you right now in person. Come over?"

 **Oooohhhh~ A kind of cliffhanger I guess!** **Please review! (And I'm super sorry for the language Will used. It's really offensive, but it plays a part in the future of the story so bear with me!) Also, I just finished writing chapter seven, so I'm super excited to keep posting these. I was going to wait until I finished the entire story to even post chapter one, but I got ahead of myself. I will try to upload a chapter each week, but I might post them a little closer together.**


	4. Forbidden Fruit

**Chapter Four: Forbidden Fruit**

Alec stepped into the kitchen, wanting this party to just end. All night, Jace had been dragging him away from his friends to meet all of these people that Alec did not care to meet. Eventually, Alec just told Jace to leave him alone and let him find someone by himself.

Now, Alec was trying to get away from Sebastian. He was embarrassed because Sebastian called him childish and ignorant. He never meant to come across that way, but it happened.

"Alec?" Jace walked into the kitchen. "You okay, man? You look a little red."

"I'm fine," he lied, pouring himself a glass of water.

"Hey, uh, where did your red headed friend go?" he asked, nonchalantly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Clary?" Alec asked. "I don't know. I think she went outside to get some fresh air. Why?"

"Oh, I don't know. I just was wondering. I thought I might ask her to dance or something."

Alec laughed, "You're not really her type, Jace."

"You underestimate the power of my charm, dear brother." Jace hopped up on the counter by Alec, watching him closely. "Are you having fun?" he asked more seriously.

"Yeah," Alec said in an unconvincing tone.

Jace didn't seem convinced, but he didn't say anything. "Well, if you want to meet more people, I-"

"No," Alec said firmly.

"Okay, but when you grow old with thirty cats, don't blame me. I tried to help," Jace said, hopping off of the counter and going back to the party.

Alec splashed a little cold water on his face in the kitchen sink, careful not to get any water under his contacts. He hated wearing them, but his mother was convinced he looked better without his glasses. To be honest, though, he like his glasses more. He only wore them when he stayed home, but they were much more comfortable. Just thinking about his glasses made Alec want to go to his room and take out his contacts. He left the kitchen, climbing the stairs to his room, praying that no one was using his bed for anything. Luckily, it was completely empty. Messy, albeit, but empty. Alec quickly washed his hands in his bathroom sink and took out his contacts. He put on his black half rim glasses and took off his blue tie. He slipped out of his shoes, carrying them back to his closet.

"Getting ready for bed?" Alec jumped at the sound of Sebastian's voice.

"N-no. My eyes just hurt, so I came to put on my glasses," Alec explained.

Sebastian stepped further into his bedroom, closing and locking the door behind him. He made his way over to Alec's bed, sitting down and motioning for Alec to join him. "You've been avoiding this," he stated.

Alec sat down next to Sebastian, the heat of his body sending shivers down his spine. He couldn't tell Sebastian the truth. He had been avoiding the sex in hopes that Seb would realize how nice it is to just spend time together. "I have not," Alec denied it, hoping that Sebastian would just drop it.

"Don't be so juvenile, Alec. Come here," Sebastian pulled Alec close, kissing his chapped lips. Alec's entire body was shocked alive. It had been over a week since they kissed like this. Alec's lips pressed back into Sebastian's, eager to taste more of him. Sebastian opened his mouth, allowing Alec's tongue to explore. He bit down on Alec's bottom lip, tugging on it slightly as he pulled away. "Good boy," Sebastian said jokingly after they pulled apart.

"Do you really think I'm childish and ignorant?" Alec asked as Sebastian took off his shoes.

"I didn't mean it, if that's what you're asking," Sebastian replied, nudging Alec to lay down on the bed.

"What did you mean, then?" he asked as Sebastian climbed on top of him, kissing his neck. Alec's eyes rolled back in his head and he sighed heavily.

Sebastian's right hand started to unbutton Alec's shirt while his teeth continue to graze the skin of Alec's neck. "Cute and blissfully unaware," he said, not really paying attention to the conversation anymore.

Alec moved his hand up to Sebastian's dark hair, tugging it softly. "I don't see how that's any better," he commented, moaning when Sebastian ground their hips together.

"I didn't mean anything bad," Sebastian said, bringing his lips back to Alec's. Alec responded by pulling Sebastian's shirt off and running his hands up and down his back. Sebastian sat up, allowing Alec to discard his own shirt. "Did you quit working out?" Sebastian asked, looking down at Alec's torso.

Alec's cheeks flushed a dark red, "I didn't think I would need to since soccer practice started up again."

Sebastian just made a noncommittal 'hm' sound before kissing Alec again. Alec pulled back and took a deep breath when Sebastian started to undo the buckle of his belt.

"Seb, wait," Alec said, panicking. If Sebastian had noticed his torso not being toned, he would definitely notice his ass being bigger. Even Alec had noticed it. Everything he ate seemed to go straight to his ass… And he ate a lot.

Sebastian didn't seem to have heard Alec. He had began kissing Alec's chest, his teeth abusing the skin.

Alec moved his hands to stop him. "Please, wait."

"What's wrong, now?" Sebastian asked, exasperated.

"I don't think I want to do this right now," Alec said, sitting up on his elbows as Sebastian sat back on his knees.

"Come on, Alec. It's been long enough. You either have sex with me tonight, or I'm going to find someone else to do this with."

"Sebastian, no, please," Alec said, feeling his eyes start to sting with tears as Sebastian got up off of the bed. He grabbed his shirt from the floor, pulling it back over his head. "No, I'll do it. Please don't leave," Alec begged.

Sebastian got back on the bed, pulling off his shirt. He leaned close to Alec, licking the shell of his ear before whispering, "If you stop me again, I will tell everyone what a fucking prude you are."

"I won't," Alec promised, kissing Sebastian's bare shoulder.

Sebastian finished unbuckling Alec's belt and khaki pants. Alec pushed them down along with his Calvin Klein briefs. Sebastian began kissing Alec again, his tongue prodding every corner of his mouth. He moaned deep in his throat when Alec touched him through his jeans. He bit Alec's bottom lip again, something that Alec hated.

Trying to bring Sebastian's attention away from his lip, Alec removed Sebastian's jeans and pushed him down against the bed. He trailed kisses down his chest, nipping the skin under his belly button.

"Alec, don't tease me," he said while Alec palmed him through his boxers.

Alec obeyed, so long as the attention wasn't on him, he was happy. He pulled Seb's boxers down, immediately taking him in his mouth. He let out another moan, his back arching slightly. "Fuck, Alec." Alec opened his throat and went further down, careful not to gag. Sebastian laced his fingers into Alec's hair forcing his head up and down. Alec tried to stay calm, bracing his hands on the bed. Sebastian began moving his hips, forcing his hard on into the back of Alec's throat painfully. Just wanting him to finish, Alec tried hollowing his cheeks and moving his tongue around the best he could. It seemed to work because Sebastian threw his head back and arched his back off of the bed. He pulled Alec away, kissing him sloppily while reaching in Alec's drawer for protection and lube. He flipped them so that Alec was lying flat against the bed and Sebastian was between his legs. Sebastian grabbed the lube, spreading it on his fingers and a small amount at Alec's entrance.

Alec bit his lip as Sebastian started fingering him. As usual, it was uncomfortable and Sebastian wasn't exactly being gentle. Finally, though, Alec relaxed and started to feel pleasure. When Seb's middle finger brushed his prostate, Alec moaned and pulled him down for a kiss. Sebastian took this as a sign that he was ready, and rolled on the condom, adding more lube. Fortunately for Alec, he went very slow at first.

"God, Alec, you're so tight," he moaned, spreading Alec's legs further. His pace began to quicken, the friction causing Alec to moan and squirm in pleasure. He held Sebastian's body close to his, his nails digging into his back. Sebastian started kissing his neck again, biting, licking, and blowing on the skin. "You look so hot in those glasses," Sebastian said against his ear, giving him goosebumps. His hand ran down Alec's side, stopping at his ass. His grip was sure to leave bruises, but Alec did not care at the moment. Sebastian's pace picked up, his lips finding Alec's again. Alec kissed him back fervently until Sebastian shifted and hit his prostate. Alec's body tensed, his eyes rolling back in his head. Sebastian continued to abuse his prostate, going faster and faster. Alec's walls were holding tight to him, causing him to moan. "Alec," he groaned out, reaching down and stroking Alec. Within two minutes, Alec was coming, Sebastian not far behind.

"Finally," Sebastian said, pulling out.

"I'm sorry," Alec said. He didn't know why he said it. He didn't even know what he was apologizing for.

Sebastian grabbed an old t-shirt off of the floor and wiped the semen off of Alec's chest. "It's okay, Cherry," Sebastian said, using the pet name he gave Alec while they were dating. He gave Alec a quick kiss on the lips, reminding Alec why he loved him so much. He knew Sebastian only got angry when he was sexually frustrated. He even told him that he had harsh hormonal swings and that he used to be on medication for it. Not many people knew that, but Alec felt special that Sebastian shared that with him.

"Are you leaving?" Alec asked as Sebastian was putting his clothes back on.

"The party will be over soon. I should probably go before Jace finds me and kills me."

"Text me tomorrow?"

Sebastian kissed him one more time before leaving the bedroom, "I will. Sleep tight," he said before disappearing into the loud party.

Alec fell back against the pillows, running a hand through his hair. He pulled the blanket close around his body and stared at the ceiling.

He didn't know how long he laid there. It was long enough for the party to die down.

"Alec," there was a knock on the door.

"Just a minute," he called, rolling out of bed and popping all of his joints. He pulled on a pair of briefs and a t-shirt before he opened the door for his brother.

"Great party, right?" he said with a smile. "I got Clary to dance with me, but she refused my offer for dinner. I think she's going to warm up to me, though."

"That's great, Jace," Alec said, wiping a smudge off of his glasses.

"It looks like you had a good night," Jace said, glancing at Alec's lack of pants and the bottle of lube on his night stand. "Who was the lucky son of a bitch?"

Alec blushed, not wanting to lie, but definitely not wanting to tell the truth. "No one," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Come now, young Lightwood. Tell your brother who got laid tonight," Jace said, pushing Alec out of the way so he could walk into his bedroom.

"I'm not going to tell you," Alec resisted.

Jace sat down in Alec's chair, avoiding his bed with a weary look. "It was Kirk wasn't it? He's so into you. I saw him look at your ass when you walked away."

"Jace, I don't want to speak about this with you," Alec said, not meaning to sound as offensive as he did. "Not you specifically. I didn't mean that. I meant I don't want to speak about this with anyone; you included."

Jace kicked his feet up onto the desk and put his arms behind his head. "Here I am being the best brother in the world to you, bringing you hot ass on a golden platter, and you won't even tell me which entree you chose. I believe that is completely unfair."

Alec rolled his eyes, crawling back into his bed and pulling the blankets closer around him. "I'm sorry, Jace. You _are_ being really helpful, I just don't think you would approve of my choices, and I don't want to make you mad or upset."

Jace's face softened. "Was it Sebastian?" It wasn't accusatory or angry. He just wanted to know. This of course made Alec feel worse; guiltier.

Alec just nodded, ducking his head down in shame. "I can't help it, Jace. I want to stop, but I feel like he makes me a better person," Alec admitted. "He helps me realize what I'm doing wrong, and I can't give him up."

"Alec," Jace said softly as he crawled onto the bed with his brother despite what he knew just took place. "You aren't doing anything wrong. Sebastian just wants you to do and be exactly what he wants. Not what we want. We want you to just be who you are. We don't care if you make innocent jokes. It makes you quirky and loveable. And your pure heart is what makes you such an honest and genuine person. Sebastian is trying to change you to his liking."

"Clary said that," Alec said suspiciously.

Jace smiled, "I may have been talking to her about you, and picked up a few lines."

"Using mine and Sebastian's relationship to land a date?" Alec asked, not angry in the slightest.

"It worked didn't it?" Jace said showing Alec that Clary's number was written on his hand.

Alec rolled his eyes. "I always knew she had bad taste."

"This isn't about me," Jace quickly dismissed before Alec changed the topic. Jace had figured out early on that Alec was a pro at topic changing. Before you would even notice, he would take you from talking about his chores to your second grade art project in .02 seconds. And it was always so smooth. That was something that Jace had tried to pick up, but he couldn't master it like Alec had. "How do you feel when you're in a relationship with Sebastian?" Jace asked, his face more serious than Alec had ever seen it.

"He makes me hate myself," Alec said, putting his forehead on his knuckles. "When I'm around him, I feel like I'm messing up everything."

"See?" Jace said, a slight flicker in his eyes alerting Alec that he was about to make a joke. "You shouldn't feel like that because you only mess up some things."

Alec scoffed, glad Jace turned the situation lighter before he started crying. "Gee, thanks, Jace. You make me feel so much better," he said sarcastically.

"I'm just doing my job," Jace said, punching Alec's shoulder playfully.

Alec smiled, shoving Jace harder than he had punched him. "We're not dating," Alec said suddenly, making Jace very confused.

"Did you break up tonight?" he asked, desperately trying to piece together the parts.

Alec blushed, suddenly wishing he hadn't brought it up. "No. We, uh… We're sort of… We're just friends, but we…" Alec's entire face was flushed as he tried to delicately tell Jace the situation. "You remember that movie Izzy dragged us to last summer?"

"The one with Mila Kunis? Where she bangs her friend?" Jace asked, realization dawning on his face. "You're just fuck buddies?"

Alec frowned at the expression, not bothering to scold Jace for his language. "Yes," the ever present blush glowing proudly.

"Alec," Jace said, astonished. Alec was not the type to do those things. That was more of Jace's area of expertise. "How long?"

"Six months, four days," he said, biting his lip. His blue eyes shined through his glasses at his step brother, silently asking for sympathy.

"You've got to end it, Alec," Jace said. "The only thing worse than being friends with an ex is being a friend with benefits. Because then you get a taste of them. It's like when you went to that fat camp a couple years ago," Jace said, reminding Alec of his sixth grade summer when his mother thought he was rounding out too well and sent him to a summer camp. "Imagine if you were told you couldn't eat any more Chinese food, but you got to dip your finger into the soy sauce every once in awhile. It only makes you miss Chinese food more."

"It wasn't a fat camp," Alec muttered indignantly. He was still a little self conscious about his weight; Sebastian seemed to make it worse.

"Alec, that wasn't the point," Jace said, exasperated. "My point is that doing all of the sexual stuff with Sebastian just makes it harder for you to let go and move on. Quit dipping your finger in the soy sauce."

Alec supposed Jace was right, but he hated to admit it. "I'll try," he said, though there was very little promise in the statement.

Jace knew that Alec didn't respond well to nagging, and he was very sensitive to guilt. Not wanting to use either of those tactics, Jace went instead with encouragement. "What do you want in a boyfriend?"

Alec was taken aback by the question. "What?"

"What is your ideal boyfriend like? Describe him to me," Jace encouraged.

Alec blushed, looking down at his hands, "I guess he would be… Do I really have to do this?" he asked, pleading Jace to say 'just forget it.'

"Yes. If I'm going to set you up, I want to do it properly. I want him to be as close to your dream man as possible."

Alec rolled his eyes behind his glasses, returning his gaze to his hands. "I want him to be… I guess it would be nice if…" Alec couldn't finish his sentences, clearly embarrassed by this conversation. "Do you want personality traits?" he asked, stalling. "I mean, I'm not vain or anything, but it wouldn't hurt for him to be good looking."

"Alec quit stalling. Tell me everything you look for in a guy. If it's hazel eyes and a ten inch-"

"Stop," Alec said, his face flushed again.

"I'm just saying. I want to know everything," Jace said, reaching in Alec's bedside table and pulling out a piece of paper and a pen.

"What's that for?" Alec asked, wondering why Jace stole from his 'wake up in the middle of the night with a wonderful idea that will be oh so stupid in the morning, but I better write it down' drawer.

"I want to write down your list of demands. So I won't forget. Now, on with it, Princess. Tell me about Prince Charming."

Alec realized he wasn't going to get out of this. "Fine. I guess a good sense of humor is important. And a quick wit. Someone who I can quip with like we do."

"This is good," Jace said, scribbling down Alec's words. "What else?"

Alec bit his lip, thinking. "Good taste in music. For the love of god, no country music. We don't live in Texas."

Jace laughed, knowing Alec wouldn't dislike someone for their taste in music or state. "How about some physical features?"

The first thought that popped into Alec's head was the waterboy. AKA Jace's worst enemy. Before he could stop it, word vomit flew from his mouth. "Tall with long legs and a good taste in style. Someone who isn't afraid to dress how they want to."

"What about hair and eye color?" Jace asked, trying to cover every basis.

"Dark hair," Alec said immediately. "Eye color doesn't matter."

"Okay, any traits you don't want?" Jace asked, making very detailed notes.

"Please no one rude or embarrassing. I get enough of that with you," Alec teased, earning another punch in the shoulder.

"Alright," Jace said, making one or two last notes on the paper, "I'm going to find you the perfect man. Now, we need to get sleep if we're going to get this house clean before Mom gets home tomorrow."

"I agree. Out with you evil being," Alec joked, pointing to the door.

Jace laughed, heading to the door. "Goodnight, Alec."

"Goodnight Jace."

(Line Break)

Magnus sat in his cotton pajamas with all the lights out in his room, and his house for that matter, with the laptop at his fingertips. "Come here, Chairman," he called to his cat as he booted up the computer. "It's time to look at the cute boy I was telling you about," he said, his cat mewling in excitement.

Magnus logged onto Facebook and saw he had thirteen notifications and six new friend requests. "Let's see here. Game request. Game Request. Like. Like. Like. Game Request. Like. Comment. Ugh, Chairman, that slut Kaelie told me I look 'super horny' in my profile picture." Magnus tsked in distaste. Kaelie had tried to sleep with him so often, he'd gotten into the habit of just saying no every time she tried to talk to him. "And six posts to my wall from Grandma saying she loves me," Magnus rolled his eyes. Luckily, his grandmother only spoke Indonesian, so no one at school knew what it said. Magnus quickly wrote her a short message saying he loved her too, and he was excited to see her for Christmas and such. "Now let's see who wants to be my friend shall we?" Chairman Meow sat happily on Magnus' lap, watching him add everyone without reading their names.

Magnus clicked into the search bar, tempted to look up the blue eyed beauty who had been haunting his dreams for the past few days. Chairman looked at him with approval. Magnus relented, typing Alec's name into the box.

"Dear Lilith," Magnus sighed. Alec's profile picture was of him in his soccer uniform with sweat rolling down his face and a huge grin on his face. He had silver braces aligning his teeth and his skin had a few blemishes. Magnus couldn't help but think he was still beautiful. "Look at those muscles," he muttered quietly, biting the tip of his thumb. "This calls for a complete investigation," he said, clicking on his photos tab. He only had two more profile pictures. Both of them were group photos, one of the soccer team from two years ago, and the other a group teenagers sitting in a really nice house. Intrigued, Magnus looked at who was tagged in the photo. "Alec, Simon, Clary, Sebastian, Jordan, Raphael, and Eric. I don't know nor have I ever seen any of these people. Chairman, look at all of his friends." Magnus forces the cat to look at the screen and see the group of oddballs. "None of them are even close to being as cute as him, and these pictures are doing him no justice. For one thing, they are two years old, and for another, I don't think you can capture his true beauty in a photo."

Magnus moved to the photos that Alec didn't post, but was tagged in. The first one Magnus saw made his breath catch. It was a picture of Alec looking to the side and laughing, his white teeth showing. His hair was mussed as if he had just had it ruffled, and his arms were casually crossed over his chest. "It's perfection." The rest of the photos were just pictures of other people with Alec sitting in the background. The last photo Magnus thought was worthy was of attention was a picture of Alec and the Sebastian boy. Alec was sitting there with a sad smile and Sebastian had his arm around him. Magnus checked the comments seeing that a lot of them said, 'what a cute couple', and 'Sebastian finally got a boyfriend.'

Magnus frowned. Alec definitely did not look happy with this boy. "What an awful thing to be dating someone you're not happy with," Magnus muttered to his cat, moving to Alec's main profile to see if they were still dating. Magnus looked at his relationship status and smiled. "Single for six months." Magnus smiled, scrolling down his wall. "Not only is he gay, but he's also single."

Chairman meowed approvingly, snuggling into Magnus' arm more. Magnus spent the next twenty minutes looking through every post since Alec joined facebook. Most of them were just his friends posting on his wall to tell him happy birthday, which was December 6. A few more were from his soccer friends, posting short clips of professional soccer games. Magnus thought it was cute when Alec would comment on them, because his comments would be almost a full paragraph about how cool the game was that week and how it could have been better. "He is so adorable, Chairman. I just want to hug him...And fuck him...He's just so cute!" Magnus said, exasperated. He continued looking through the posts on his wall, loving how Alec's only status updates were to say 'Happy Holidays' and a heartwarming thanks to his soccer team at the end of each season.

Magnus scrolled through two years of posts back to the top of Alec's page. He was about to click on the 'more' tab to look through Alec's likes when Chairman suddenly jumped up onto his hand and dashed across the room to stare out the window at something Magnus couldn't see. Magnus rolled his eyes, looking back at the screen and dropping his jaw in horror. Chairman had made him send a friend request to Alec. "No no no," Magnus said, not wanting Alec to think he was being creepy; they had never even spoken to each other before. "You are a very very bad kitty," Magnus said, scolding his cat. Chairman just looked at him, then dashed out of his bedroom.

Groaning, Magnus called Camille.

"Magnus, what's wrong?"  
"I need to talk to you right now in person. Come over?"

"What happened?" she asked, clearly concerned.

"Cam, I accidentally sent a friend request to Alec Lightwood, and now he's going to think I'm a super creepy stalker," Magnus said in a rushed voice.

"Whoa, calm down. First of all, you are a super creepy stalker. Second of all if you're going to date him, he's going to find out anyway. And thirdly, he's probably going to get a hundred friend requests tonight. This party is huge."

Magnus still bit his lips in worry, "Can you come over? I want to hear everything you learned about him. And bring some Absinthe."

"I'll be over in twenty. I can't find him anyway. He's been gone for like twenty minutes."

Magnus could tell by her tone that she thought Alec was off having sex, but he was thankful she didn't voice her theory.

"Just hurry," Magnus said, hanging up his phone and logging off of facebook before his cat decided to ruin his life again.

 **Thanks for reading! Please leave a review and tell me what you think! (And I don't mean to be rude about Texas or country music. I enjoy both very much.)**


	5. I Want to Know

**Chapter Five: I Want To Know**

It was nearing two in the morning by the time Camille arrived at Magnus' house. He let her in, dragging her into his room before his parents could even hear the doorbell. "How much information did you gather?" Magnus asked, locking his bedroom door and pulling two glasses that he hid from his parents out from his drawer.

Camille poured them each a small glass of Absinthe, that she had pulled out of her purse, and smiled. She knew that Magnus wanted to hear everything, and she loved to make him wait. "I heard a few things," she said casually, taking a long sip of her drink and enjoying the look of pure annoyance on Magnus' face.

"For the love of glitter, tell me already!" Magnus said.

"Fine, but no interruptions or I stop," Camille warned.

"Deal," he said quickly, downing half of his drink.

Camille sat on the bed with Magnus, her short black dress riding up a little on her thighs. "Good news is, he is definitely gay. He had a boyfriend for nearly a year and a half, but they broke up. Bad news is, all of his friends think they are still together secretly. They said that the only reason they broke up is because Alec didn't want his family to know they were dating. Apparently they all hate him. His name is-"

"Sebastian. I saw him on Alec's facebook page," Magnus said, feeling a crazy amount of jealousy towards this boy who dated Alec.

"What did I say about interruptions?" Camille said with a stern voice.

"I'm sorry, please continue," Magnus said, looking a little sheepish so she would continue.

Camille took another slow drink, punishing Magnus for his outburst. "Everyone I talked to thought Sebastian was an asshole. One of Alec's friends had a theory that Alec only stayed with him because he was his first everything. She said that Alec was really shy, and it took him a lot of time and confidence to finally take the first step and kiss Sebastian. She thinks he's afraid to be with anyone else than Sebastian because he would have to go through all of the nerves and fears again with someone he didn't know. She said he's very timid when it comes to meeting new people. Another one of his friends said that when he moved from Chicago, it took him three days to even speak to anyone. So getting to know him will probably take a lot of time, Magnus. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Absolutely," Magnus said without hesitation. "He's… there's just something about him I can't let go. I mean, I haven't even spoken to him, but I feel like I know him. This sounds ridiculous," Magnus said, putting his face in his hands and sighing.

"It's not ridiculous," Camille said, her blonde hair falling around her face, "It's just really fucking cheesy," she smiled. "If you really feel like you want to do this, I'm going to help. Do you want more info? Or will what I've told you suffice for now?"

"More info. I want to know everything, Cam. Everything!" Magnus said, his voice eager.

"Okay, okay, calm down. Let's see here," she said, trying to recall everything she gathered from the party. "Oh! This is interesting. He doesn't use foul language. At all. Like he doesn't even say freaking. And he gets all embarrassed when other people use that kind of language. He also doesn't get mad easily, so that's a plus for your type."

"What do you mean my type?" Magnus scoffed, a little offended.

Camille rolled her eyes, "You are the easiest person to get angry. I swear I could call your cat by the wrong name and you would throw me out. And anyway, that's not all I heard at the party, so pay attention, dammit. Family is a big deal to Alec. Apparently when he was young, his real dad was really abusive to him and like didn't love him and shit. So he is really close to his step dad who adopted him a little bit after he married Alec's mom Maryse. He doesn't talk to anyone about his real dad. Not even his mom from what I can tell. Speaking of his mom, she's rich. Like priceless art hanging in her house. I would have never guessed that because Jace drives that horrible mustang, but whatever. He also knows everything there is to know about cars. Like he's a real car genius."

"What does he dress like outside of his beautiful soccer uniform?" Magnus asked.

Camille rolled her eyes, "Black button down shirt, khaki pants and a blue tie. Plus some really fancy shoes. Typical rich kid clothes. I bet his mom dresses him," Camille said the last part, mostly to herself, but she still earned a shove from Magnus.

"I'm sure he dresses himself," Magnus said, even though he had no idea if Alec dressed himself or not.

"Whatever, Magnus," Camille said, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up. "How do you plan to ask Alec out without Jace killing you?" She handed Magnus a cigarette, knowing that he wanted one.

Magnus lit it, glad that his parents never checked on him past nine at night. "I don't know yet," he said thoughtfully. "I haven't thought that far yet. What do you suggest?"

Camille pulled a long drag, "How about you go to one of his soccer games, then ask him out afterward."

"Don't you think he might find it a little creepy that the guy he doesn't know came to watch him play soccer? And besides, soccer doesn't start for another two months. I don't want to wait that long."

"Okay, what about Friday's game? One of Alec's friends said they were all going together to watch. You could meet up with him after the game. He will probably be waiting on Jace."

"That's brilliant," Magnus said, ecstatic. "Now I just have to wait one week, and pick out the perfect outfit for this occasion."

(Line Break)

Alec woke up fairly early on Saturday morning to the sound of talking downstairs. Rolling out of bed, he puts on his glasses and a pair of pajama pants before walking down to the kitchen.

"Good morning," he muttered, reaching for the coffee pot and pouring a copious amount into his favorite mug.

Max and Izzy both mumbled a good morning from behind their glasses of juice. Alec cringed as he saw the huge mess from the night before. Cups and crumbs were everywhere, and the waste basket was overflowing with trash.

"The party looks like it was fun," Izzy said bitterly.

Alec made a noncommittal noise as he drank his coffee, trying to wake up enough so that he could clean.

"It was a ton of fun," Jace said, walking into the room with a large trash bag that was already half full. "I got Clary's number, Maia said she met a girl she likes, and Alec and I had a lovely talk. Isn't that right, Princess?" Jace said, cleaning the kitchen with precise movements.

"Yeah," Alec said, clearly not listening to a word Jace said as he tried to wake up.

Jace continues to throw trash away, clearly happy with last night's events. "We should be able to get this all clean before mom gets home," he said thoughtfully, abandoning the trash and moving to wipe up spills.

"I would certainly hope so," Robert said, walking into the kitchen with a box of donuts and a few shopping bags. "Looks like we got robbed," he said with a small laugh. The second he put the food down on the counter, all four kids attacked it like seagulls on a french fry.

"How was Canada, Daddy?" Izzy asked, eating a donut with pink frosting and sprinkles.

Robert sat down next to Alec who had poured him a cup of coffee and handed it to him. "It was nice. I got the account with the historical museum society and we got six new artifacts."

"That's great, Dad," Jace said.

"I also got a few souvenirs for you guys," he said, lifting the shopping bags onto the table. "For Max, I have a book light with the Canadian flag on it," he said handing it to his son.

Max's face lit up. "This is so cool! Now I won't have to use that flashlight!"

"Me next," Izzy said, bouncing a little in her seat.

Robert stalled, taking a long sip of his coffee. "Okay, for the lovely Isabelle, I got the Smashbox eye shadow thing from that makeup store you like so much," he said, handing her the palette.

"Oh my gosh! My friends are going to be so jealous," she said happily snatching it. "I've got to go try it out," she said dashing out of the kitchen and into her room.

"You're welcome," Robert muttered quietly, though he was still smiling. "Jace, I found this cologne that has a picture of a moose on it for you."

Jace smile broadly, taking the cologne and smelling it. "Clary is going to love this," he said, spraying it on his wrists, then rubbing his neck.

"Not that she'll want to be close enough to you to smell it," Alec joked, earning a glare from Jace.

"And Alec, I don't have yours in here, but I got you the new rims you picked out for your car. There was a retro dealership on my way in that happened to have them," Robert explained, throwing the now empty bags into the trash.

"Sweet," Alec said, coffee now kicking in. "I'll have to put them on tonight after we get everything cleaned."

"Speaking of which," Jace said, holding up his trash bag. "I could use some help."

For the next two hours, Robert, Jace, and Alec cleaned the house, putting all of the rugs and vases back out. By the time everything is put back together, the clock read seven pm, and Maryse arrives back home.

"Oh perfect timing, Mom," Jace said, collapsing onto the sofa. "Wait until everything is clean again before you come home," he joked.

Maryse laughed, sitting next to Jace and running her hands over his mussed hair. "It's a mother's gift," she said with a slight smile. It was clear that she was tired from her weekend in Philly.

Having heard their mother's voice, Izzy and Max emerged from their rooms to greet her.

"Oh good, I need someone to help me make dinner," Maryse said upon seeing her children.

"I'll help," Max said excitedly. One of his favorite things to do was cook.

"Me too," Izzy said, recently taking up cooking so she would be ready for her home economics class the next semester. The three of them disappeared into the kitchen, leaving behind the other three.

"Now seems like a good time to call Clary," Jace said. "I believe I've worked up my charm enough," he said, grabbing his cell phone off of the coffee table and heading towards his room.

"Let's go put those rims on," Robert suggests. Alec agrees easily, and they head out to the garage.

"Thanks again, Dad," Alec said. "I know these must have cost a fortune."

Robert grabbed the rims out of the back of his SUV and handed two over to Alec. "Surprisingly, they weren't that bad. And I don't care about the money, Alec."

Alec took the rims and grabbed his tools from the trunk and began replacing them. "All I'm missing now is the custom shift knob."

Robert, on the other side of the car, laughed, "It's going to be tough to find an original," he said.

"I know," Alec sighed. "But hopefully I will find one before college."

"Speaking of college," Robert transitioned, "Have you thought about where you want to go?"

Alec slid across the garage floor to start replacing the second rim. "I'm thinking Stanford, but my chances of getting in are slim. So my back ups are NYU and Icahn."

"Still thinking about medical school?" Robert asked as he finished putting on the fourth rim.

Alec nodded, "Yeah, I think so."

"I think that's great, Alec, but you could always do something easier," Robert joked. Alec rolled his eyes and laughed with his father.

"What can I say, I like to torture myself with work." Alec stood back, admiring his new rims. "Those look amazing," he said, his eyes shining in appreciation.

"Good choice," Robert agreed. "You could pick up any guy with this beauty."

Alec laughed, blushing horribly. "That's not my first intention."

"Why? Do you already have a boyfriend?" Robert asked casually, knowing that if Alec did, he wouldn't just come out and say it without being confronted.

Alec scratched the back of his neck and looked down at the floor, "Uh, no, I don't."

"Hmm. Me either," Robert joked, making his son laugh out loud.

"I would hope not. Mom might not be too happy about that." Alec looked like he was about to say something else, but stopped himself. Robert, of course, caught on to this immediately.

"Something on your mind?"

"Well," Alec debated on whether or not he should share his feelings. "Kinda."

Robert sat down on the refurbished bench made from an old Chevy bench seat. Alec sat next to him, crossing his left ankle over his right knee. "You want to talk about it?"

"There is someone I am a little interested in, but he's not exactly… Jace would not be okay with it." Alec was blushing horribly, but he was so glad he had someone he could talk to.

"Why wouldn't Jace be okay with it?" Robert inquired.

Alec paused for a second, then spoke quietly, "It's Magnus, Dad."

Robert let out a slow whistle. "Jace would definitely not be okay with that," he said with a laugh. "But you shouldn't let that stop you if you really like him. Just because it may not be the best thing for Jace doesn't mean it's not the best thing for you. Plus, Jace's hate for Magnus doesn't surpass his love for you. He'd just want you to be happy."

Alec bit his lip, "I know. I'm just worried that I will make Jace angry, and it won't work out with Magnus, then I will have driven a wedge between me and Jace for no reason."

"I don't usually condone keeping secrets, but maybe you could test the waters with Magnus before you tell Jace. And if it doesn't work out, no harm done. And if it starts going great, then you can let Jace down easy."

"Do you really think Magnus will want to keep it quiet?" Alec asked, thinking that Magnus didn't seem like the type of person to keep any secrets.

"I don't know. I've never met him. From the way Jace talks, though, probably not."

Alec frowned and was about to say something else when his mother opened the door. "Dinner's ready, loves," she said, leaving the door open so they would know to come in.

Dinner went by uneventfully, and once it was over, Alec went up to his room and got on his laptop. He sat at his desk, opening Facebook. "Wow," he said once he noticed there were thirteen friend requests and eleven notifications. Ten of them were people, mainly guys, from last night's party. Another two were from his mother's friends, but the last made Alec smile. Magnus had added him as a friend. Alec quickly accepted, making him a star friend so he could read all of his posts when he posted them. As soon as Alec had added him, Magnus posted, "Watching BBC Sherlock tonight. Wish I had a Watson to watch with me…" Alec liked the post immediately, hoping Magnus didn't think he was stalking him. Biting his lip, Alec went to Magnus' home page, scrolling through all of his pictures.

"Oh my," Alec said quietly when he saw Magnus had an eyebrow piercing like Bill Kaultiz. Unf. He was also currently single. And into Sherlock, Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Merlin. And incredibly attractive. And he was quite possibly the most perfect human being Alec had ever encountered.

Alec kept going through his pictures- he had hundreds of them. Alec paused at one in which Magnus was at some party with a red cup in his hand, an emerald shirt that hung loosely over his chest, and the sexiest leather pants in the world. He was clearly a little intoxicated in the picture, but the face he was making was still hot. Alec thought he looked like a sexy devil. Unconsciously, Alec's hand ran over the front of his pants.

"Hey, Alec, how much do you know about-" Jace stopped short when Alec slammed his laptop shut and turned around to look at him. "Please tell me you weren't watching gay porn."

Alec glared at him, his cheeks crimson in embarrassment. "I wasn't," he tried to say it firmly, but his voice cracked and he didn't hold eye contact.

"Right," Jace said, clearly looking a little awkward, but he didn't say anything else. "Anyway, I was saying, how much do you know about calculus?"

 **Such a short chapter, I apologize, but hopefully you enjoyed it! I'm halfway done with chapter eight, so I'll keep posting about once or twice a week until I'm caught up to what I'm writing! Thanks!**


	6. Old Ends, New Beginnings, Terrible Days

**Chapter Six: Old Ends, New Beginnings, Terrible Days**

Monday morning rolled around way too soon for Alec. After his alarm clock went off four times, he finally mustered the ambition to get out of bed and find a clean pair of jeans and his academy uniform top. As was customary for the second Monday of classes at the academy, they had an assembly about drunk driving. There is nothing Alec wanted more than to skip and stay in bed, but he knew Sebastian would be in a good mood, and that doesn't happen enough. Alec pulled on the first pair of shoes he saw, combed his hair, brushed his teeth, and went downstairs to grab breakfast.

"Hey, Alec," Jace said, sitting next to his brother at the kitchen table. "What are you doing after soccer practice?"

Alec poured himself coffee and drank nearly half of it before he spoke. "Nothing as far as I know. I shouldn't have homework since we have the assembly today."

"Cool. You want to swing by the football field and meet your perfect man?"

Alec coughed, hot coffee stinging his throat and making his eyes water. "What?"

Jace ate an apple casually, acting like there was nothing out of the ordinary, "I spent a lot of time last night going over your list, and I think I found someone who fits all of the criteria. I think you've met him already, but you would really hit it off on a date."

Alec bit his lip, hoping he wasn't too obvious about Magnus. "W-who is it?"

"Will Herondale."

Before he could stop himself, Alec started laughing.

Jace looked offended, "What's so funny?"

"Jace, I'm not going to date Will."

"Why not? He's got wit, he's got long legs, he has dark hair, he's funny, and I trust him," Jace said, checking off Alec's list.

"While he may have everything I asked for, he's just like you. And he looks like me. I don't want to date you. And I definitely don't want to date me. That would look really arrogant."

Jace sighed, "I guess I see your point. Besides, Will has a girlfriend."

Alec rolled his eyes and finished his coffee. "Don't worry about setting me up, Jace. I'm fine."

"Alright. When you're ready you know where to go, though," he said. "Since you're not doing anything tonight, you want to meet up and go get dinner?"

"I just said I didn't want to date you," Alec joked.

"Haha, smartass," Jace said. "Do you want to go or not?"

"Sure. I'll drop you off at school and pick you up at the field. That way we don't have to take two cars," Alec said.

"Cool," Jace said, glancing at the clock. "We better leave soon or we'll be late."

And with that, they headed off to school.

(Line Break)

Magnus had been in a surprisingly good mood since Alec added him on Facebook and liked his status. In fact, Magnus didn't think he'd been this happy in a long time. He even wore his hair down in celebration.

"What do you think, Magnus?" Malcolm asked, seeking his friend's agreement.

"What was the question?" Magnus said, trying to focus on his friends and not the ongoing Alec fantasy in his head.

Malcolm rolled his eyes, "I said we should put tape recorders in every room of the school to get dirty gossip on the teachers. Then for our senior prank next year, we make a sound clip and tap into the school sound system and play all of the incriminating evidence during the announcements."

Camille jumped in, "But what if nothing good is recorded? We can't waste all our time and money on a prank that's not for sure going to work."

"I think we should do it," Magnus said.

"Thank you!" Malcolm said, his arms waving about. "Someone agrees with me."

Camille laughed, "Whatever, but when you are going through hours and hours of boring nothingness, don't complain to me."

Magnus zoned out again, ignoring his friends' conversation. Instead, he thought about Alec. He wanted to ask him out, but they had not even officially met in person. He didn't want Alec to think he was some creep. But Magnus really did want to see that gorgeous face again. And that magnificent ass.

"Earth to Magnus! What the hell is wrong with you today?" Ragnor asked, flicking his best friend on the forehead. "Are you high again?"

"No," Magnus said, "I'm not high. I'm just a little caught up in my thoughts is all," Magnus said, smiling to himself.

"Are you thinking about Alec Lightwood by any chance?" Camille teased.

Magnus bit his lip while Ragnor, Malcolm, and Catarina all stared at him in shock.

"You like a Lightwood?" Ragnor said at the same time Malcolm said, "Who are you and what have you done with Magnus?"

"Don't worry," Magnus eased, "He's nothing like Blondie. He's actually pretty hot, and not an ass."

"But he has an ass," Camille said, moaning appreciatively.

"Yes he does," Magnus agreed. "And I'm going to ask him out at the game on Friday."

Catarina interjected, "I heard that he doesn't date anyone who doesn't go to private school."

"Where did you hear that from?" Magnus asked, panic filling him. Surely Alec wasn't an uptight snobby rich kid. He couldn't be! He's supposed to be perfect and everything Magnus ever wanted.

Catarina shrugged, "I just heard it from a few girls who transferred here from the Academy."

"Maybe they were just bitter because he's gay and didn't want to date them," Camille suggested, seeing the twitch in Magnus' right eye.

"That's totally possible. They aren't that reliable. They base too much info on their need to be liked anyway," Catarina said, noticing the glare Camille was giving her. "Besides, who wouldn't want to date you, Magnus," she covered.

"Yeah, Ragnor said, "I'm sure he'd love to date you." All of them coddling Magnus so he wouldn't be in an awful panicky mood all day.

"Shut up, guys," Magnus said. "You don't have to do this. I'm not a child."

Malcolm laughed, "You fooled me."

Magnus flipped him off and decided it was time to change the subject, "So Camille, how's your love life?"

Camille smiled, "I'd say it's pretty great. I have a date tonight."

"Who with?" Catarina asked, clearly way too excited.

"I can't tell," Camille said, her cherry lips spreading into a delicate smile. "It's a secret. At least until she's out of the closet."

"You scored a girl?" Ragnor said. "That's so hot. You should take a video of you guys-"

Magnus groaned, Catarina and Malcolm laughed, and Camille stopped him, "Don't you dare finish that sentence or I will make sure no girl ever talks to you again."

Ragnor held up his hands in surrender, "It was just a suggestion."

(Line Break)

Despite leaving on time, Alec was a few minutes late to school. This of course meant that during the assembly, he had to sit at the very back next to the bathrooms. Sighing, he checked in at the office and made his way to the auditorium. As he predicted, the only seats left in the small auditorium were at the very back. He sat down, as far away from the bathroom as possible, and looked for his friends. He spotted Clary and Simon in the front, then Raphael and Jordan a few rows back, but he couldn't find Sebastian anywhere. Pulling out his phone, Alec texted Sebastian.

 _Hey, Seb, where are you?_

It only took a few moments for Sebastian to respond. _Cherry, I slept in a little late. I'm on my way. Where are you sitting?_

Alec texted him his location quickly before Sebastian joined him. "Hey, Sebastian," Alec said quietly, not paying any attention to the drunk driving assembly.

Sebastian smiled, slightly out of breath from his run to the school. "Hey, Alec. Were you late too?"

Alec grimaced and nodded, "Yeah there was a little traffic between Jace's school and here that I wasn't expecting."

"Oh yeah, traffic's a bitch," Sebastian said, his face taking on a strange expression as if he suddenly remembered something.

"Is something wrong?" Alec asked, placing his hand over Sebastian's.

Sebastian bit his lip, though the gesture looked more rehearsed than sincere. "Listen, Alec, we need to talk, okay?"

"Okay," Alec said, a sinking feeling attacking his stomach. "What about?"

Sebastian laced his fingers through Alec's and spoke in a condescending tone, "After the party the other night, I went out to Pandemonium with a few of my friends from Philly. We were dancing and goofing around and this guy I've been talking* to for a while asked me to dance with him."

Alec felt jealousy coursing through his veins, but somehow, he knew this wasn't the bad news. "And?"

"And," Sebastian continued, "One thing led to another and we had some fun and now we're dating."

Alec felt like his lungs had disappeared, "You're _dating_?" After all of the times Alec had tried to convince Sebastian to date him, he goes and dates some other guy he was 'talking to'? Alec felt like the world had been ripped out from beneath him.

"Yeah. We've kinda been talking about it for a while, and now it's happening. But don't be mad, Cherry, as soon as we break up, we can go back to our little arrangement," Sebastian said, pulling their linked hands up to his lips and kissing the back of Alec's hand.

Alec put on his best neutral face and shrugged, "That's fine, Seb," he said, even though he felt equally like crying and jumping off a bridge. He faked a small smile and pulled his hand away from Sebastian. "I'm glad you found someone," he said, not looking him in the eyes.

Sebastian sighed in relief, too self concerned to notice that Alec was actually upset, "Thanks, Alec. I knew you would be super cool about this, babe."

Alec just forced a smile and prayed he wouldn't start crying and that this assembly would be over soon.

Luckily for Alec, Sebastian spent the rest of the assembly texting his new boyfriend instead of talking to Alec. Alec was thankful for this because he was sure the next words out of his mouth would just be sobs. So when the assembly finally ended, he disappeared amongst the students before Sebastian could even turn to look at him. He quickly went to his locker and grabbed his lunch, heading towards their normal table. Clary and Simon were sitting down, talking idly about Simon's new game expansion.

"Hi, Alec," Clary greeted him with a smile.

Alec gave a quick nod before collapsing into the lunch chair and playing with the paper of his lunch sack.

"You okay, man?" Simon asked, "You look down."

Alec shrugged, not feeling the need to tell anyone his feelings. Fortunately, Jordan, Raphael, and Eric showed up at that moment.

"Simon, did you get the expansion?" Eric asked, excitedly.

"Yeah! Did you see the dragonlings?" Jordan joined in. "They are freaking epic, dude!"

Raphael scoffed and sat down in his usual spot, leaving the only empty chair at the table next to Alec. "You guys are such dorks."

Clary laughed, "If I remember correctly, Raphael, you were the one who called me last night at ten thirty to tell me that the warlocks were upgraded to actually look 'rad'."

Simon, Eric, and Jordan busted out laughing. "You play as a warlock? Were all the harmless kittens taken?" Jordan teased.

Raphael got defensive, "Hey, asshole, my warlock is a level seventy four and he could kick your blood elf's scrawny ass any day."

"If you nerds are done, I have an announcement to make," Sebastian said, sitting down next to Alec.

At the sound of Sebastian's voice, Alec sat up straighter and tried to look… not so gloomy.

"What's the big announcement, Sebastian?" Clary asked.

"I have a new boyfriend," he said with a smile, expecting all of his friends to be happy.

The entire table went silent, all of their faces in frozen in shock and anticipation. Clary broke the silence, keeping a sharp eye on Alec, "Who is it?"

"He's a friend from Philly. His name is Malachi. We've been talking for a while now, and we just made it official over the weekend." Sebastian seemed to be very pleased with this news even though no one else at the table looked happy. "Hello? Aren't you guys happy for me?"

Jordan's face screwed up, "That's kind of a dick move, bro."

Alec shook his head, desperately pleading him not to start something.

"What are you talking about?" Sebastian asked, clearly offended.

"I think he means that you shouldn't have been stringing Alec along for the past couple months if you were just going to ditch him for some guy," Simon said.

"I wasn't 'stringing Alec along'," Sebastian defended. "Was I?" he directed the question at Alec.

Alec shook his head in denial, "No," he said quietly, even though it did feel that way.

"Bullshit," Eric said. "It's obvious you and Alec have been screwing around on the side. We all know it. And we all know how much you mean to Alec. It absolutely is a dick move to just get a new boyfriend."

Sebastian looked bewildered. "Seriously? You guys are all being jerks about this. I talked to Alec beforehand and he was fine with it, weren't you?" he asked turning to Alec.

Alec put on a very convincing smile. "Yes," he said, avoiding eye contact with any of his friends.

"See?" Sebastian said, clearly angry. "God," he muttered and rolled his eyes. He got up from his chair, shoving it back under the table with a clatter before he stormed out of the cafeteria.

"Alec, are you really okay with this?" Clary asked, gently.

Alec bit his lip. Of course he wasn't really okay with this. He would rather transfer schools and have his face beaten in than stay another minute next to Sebastian, but he could never admit this. Especially because Sebastian could break up with his boyfriend… "I don't want to talk about it. I said I'm fine with it," he said quietly, but in a firm tone that indicated he wanted the conversation to end.

"You can't keep defending him forever," Jordan said, "You deserve better."

Alec stared down at his unopened lunch and took a deep shuddering breath. "I really appreciate all of you trying to protect me," he said, biting his lip. "But it's not necessary." Deciding that he had lost his appetite, Alec pushed his lunch to the middle of the table and walked out of the cafeteria. This day could not end soon enough.

(Line Break)

Alec sat in the bleachers, watching sixty some odd boys running up and down the field. Apparently one of Jace's teammates had been a smart ass, so they all had to do running drills. Though Alec usually got a lot of joy out of watching guys in football pants do exercise, he wasn't really in the mood. After lunch, he found out that he had failed his biochem test, then had to take a surprise test in his AP calculus class. Then, because the universe decided to take away all of his happiness, soccer practice was cancelled. Unsurprisingly, his soccer coach had to appear in court for over thirty unpaid parking tickets. And to top it all off, Alec could not see Magnus anywhere. He supposed it was because the waterboy didn't have to stay for running drills, but that didn't stop him from being more upset. Throughout the day, his sadness and embarrassment had turned more toward cynicism and irritation. He knew that when he got home tonight, he would end up crying after everyone went to bed, but for the time being, he kept up his neutral mood.

Deciding that watching the players run around wasn't any fun, Alec began to make his way back to his car. About halfway across the parking lot, Alec saw Magnus sitting on the front bumper of his Camri looking like the world's sexiest car trouble ad. He was wearing black jeans with artful rips down the front, a grey sweater with a leather stripe down the sleeves, and his hair was down, styled casually. He was bending backwards, trying to block the sun out while reading the owner's manual for his car. Alec blushed at the delicate curve of his spine and his long legs crossed casually.

"What the fuck is that?" Magnus said to himself, looking very confused at the manual, tilting it left and right.

Alec bit his lip, wanting to help Magnus, but also not wanting the universe to ruin this for him too. He glanced at his watch and saw that Jace's practice still had about ten minutes left. While having an internal battle on whether or not to help Magnus, Alec heard him curse again.

"God dammit." Alec glanced over at Magnus, who was bent over to the side of the car, his perfect small ass sticking straight in the air towards Alec.

"If that's not a sign from the universe, I don't know what is," Alec muttered to himself, walking towards Magnus. Maybe he could make his day a little better...

"Having trouble?" he asked, hoping Magnus wouldn't be too annoyed by his presence. After all, wouldn't it be just Alec's luck if Magnus didn't want to be near him.

Magnus stood up straight and stared at Alec like he was a rare species of bird that he'd been searching for for a long time. "If I knew absolutely anything about cars, I would tell you," he said, his voice passing through Alec's ears like a beautiful song.

"Do you mind if I take a look? I know a few things. I might be able to help," Alec said scratching the back of his neck and looking at the ground.

"Please, be my guest," Magnus said, stepping out of the way so Alec could get a closer look. "I'm Magnus by the way."

"I know," Alec said too quickly. He bit his lip and immediately regretted coming over here. After all, this day was destined to be the worst of Alec's life. "I mean…" he paused, eyes trained on the ground. "I'm Alec Lightwood. Jace's brother," Alec said, knowing that it was a bad idea to mention Jace to Magnus, but it was word vomit. A problem he seemed to be having more often as of late. He was just embarrassing himself and being an idiot in front of this perfect man. All he wanted to do was run home and crawl into bed and pull the covers over his entire body.

"That's just a shame," Magnus said. The statement made Alec look up at him. Magnus had an amused look on his face, his eyes twinkling, like he just heard a cute joke.

"Why do you say that?" Alec asked, looking back at the motor to avoid eye contact. Why didn't Magnus think he was being embarrassing? Sebastian would have rolled his eyes or scolded him. He definitely wouldn't have been amused.

"Because you are so friendly and cute, and he sucks the life out of everything," Magnus stated it like it was a well known fact, making Alec blush darkly and clutch the metal beneath his fingers.

He didn't know how to respond to that. There was no way Magnus actually thought he was cute. Unless it was in a wounded puppy dog kind of way. He was just plain, and Magnus was so gorgeous and alluring. Plus, he hadn't said it quite like a compliment. It was more like an insult to Jace that happened to include Alec being 'cute.'

"Oh," Alec said, cursing himself for not being able to come up with a better response. "I, uh, see the problem," he said, standing up straight and pointing to the car. "Let me just grab my tool box out of my car, and I can fix it for you," he said, quickly turning and jogging back to his car. He quickly took off his school jacket and button down shirt, leaving him in just a plain white t-shirt so he wouldn't stain his good clothes. Before returning to Magnus, Alec stood at the trunk of his car, taking deep breaths. It wasn't going so bad, was it? Magnus wasn't revolted by him, so that was a good sign. Right? Alec gripped the toolbox with a death grip and closed the trunk of his car, heading back towards Magnus.

"I really appreciate this, Alec," Magnus said, his arms crossed over his chest. Alec tried not to fixate on the way his sweater lifted, revealing a small spot of tanned skin, but if he was being honest, he couldn't take his eyes off of it.

"It's, uhm, no problem," Alec said, manually forcing himself to focus on fixing Magnus' car. He could feel Magnus move closer. His body heat was radiating next to Alec. Alec grabbed one of his wrenches, his hands shaking when he realized Magnus was less than a foot from him.

"Where did you learn so much about cars?" Magnus inquired, kindly keeping up the conversation. Alec was grateful as he began reattaching the broken part.

"It's kind of a hobby my dad and I share," Alec explained, lifting the bottom of his shirt to wipe off his hands as he finished attaching the part. Alec saw Magnus' eyes follow the movement and blushed, hoping Magnus wouldn't notice how untoned he was.

"Fascinating," Magnus said, slowly moving his eyes back to Alec's.

Alec broke eye contact and scratched the back of his neck again, "It should start now," he said pointing to the car.

Magnus spun on his heel, and got into his caught a glimpse of a smile and hoped Magnus wasn't laughing at him. As soon as he turned the key, it started right up. He cut the engine off, getting out of his car with a smile, "You are a genie," Magnus said.

Alec laughed awkwardly, not knowing how to take the compliment, and not even sure if it was a compliment. He bent down to lock up his tool box. "It was just a loose part," he muttered with a shy smile.

"Seriously, I don't know what I would have done without you. I live like five miles away, and I was not about to walk," Magnus said, shutting the hood of his car with a slam. "What can I do to repay you?"

Alec shrugged, "Don't worry about it."

Magnus smiled again, picking up his owner's manual from the ground, "You're sweet. Can I at least buy you a cup of coffee sometime?"

Alec blushed darkly. Was Magnus trying to ask him out on a date? Or was he just trying to be nice? "S-sure," he said, blushing.

Magnus smiled, taking a pen out of his pocket and writing his number on the palm of Alec's hand. "Just give me a call."

"Alec!" Jace yelled, running up to his brother. "What are you doing conspiring with Lucifer?"

"Calm down, Blondie," Magnus said, concealing the pen in his pocket and sticking his thumbs through his belt loops, "I was just stealing his soul and mugging him."

Alec stood quietly between them, feeling very awkward. He didn't want to anger Jace, but on the other hand, he really wanted to be nice to Magnus.

"Stay away from my brother, Sparkles," Jace said. "He doesn't need your toxic glitter suffocating him."

"Actually," Magnus said, stepping closer to Jace, "You're preaching to the wrong person. He came to me, heaven sent. I guess I've been a good boy lately."

"What?!" Jace said, turning to his brother who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

"Uhm, yeah, Jace. Magnus was having a little car trouble, so I just offered to help. Nothing more," Alec said quietly. Magnus looked at little offended when Alec said, 'nothing more,' but Alec didn't see it.

Jace's expression softened when he saw how weary Alec looked. "Let's just go home, yeah?"

"Okay," Alec said. He picked up his tool box and started walking towards his car.

"Goodbye, Goldilocks," Magnus said to Jace. "Oh, and Alec? I'm serious about that coffee," he said before getting into his car and driving off.

Alec swiftly shoved his tools in the trunk of his car while Jace got into the passenger seat. Alec climbed in the driver's side and started the car. An awkward silence hung between them until Alec pulled out into the street.

"What coffee was Magnus talking about?" Jace asked, not looking at his brother.

"It's nothing, Jace. He just offered to buy me coffee because I fixed his car," Alec said, feeling extremely guilty. Suddenly, all of his emotions from the day started rushing back to him. "It didn't mean anything."

Hearing Alec's voice quiver slightly, Jace looked over, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I've just had a really bad day," Alec said, heaving a big sigh.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jace asked, genuinely concerned for his brother.

"Not right now," Alec said, pulling into their favorite diner. "Now I just want food."

 **Thanks for reading! I really appreciate all of the support. Please leave a review!**


	7. Morose Night, Merry Day

**Chapter Seven: Morose Night, Merry Day**

Alec didn't let himself think about his awful day until he was sure everyone had gone to sleep. The last thing he wanted to do was let them know how upset he was. Maryse and Robert went to bed around nine, followed by Izzy and Max around nine thirty. Now, Alec was just waiting until the light under Jace's door, which was directly across the hall, went out. Usually Jace went to bed way after Alec, but tonight, Alec needed to stay up so he could let out all of his emotions. Dinner with Jace was very quiet. Alec guessed it was because Jace saw how upset he was.

Feeling close to tears again, Alec took a deep breath and got on his laptop. Immediately, he realized this was a mistake when he saw Sebastian's new profile picture was of him and his new boyfriend dancing at Pandemonium. Before Alec could stop it, he started crying. He wiped hastily at his eyes, trying to find something on his facebook that wouldn't remind him of Sebastian. This proved harder than he thought because all four of his other close friends made statuses about him without mentioning any names. Alec thought back to lunch, and felt guilty for the way he had treated his friends. They were trying to help him, but he just kept defending Sebastian.

The tears started flowing so hard that Alec couldn't see anything but colorful blurs. He tried to be quiet, knowing Jace was just across the hall, but he couldn't control his sobs. He thought about everything that went wrong today, then he started thinking about himself. He never admitted it to anyone before, but he was very self conscious about his body. Now, with soccer practice not as tough as the years before, and all the stress he was under with his AP classes, and Sebastian, Alec had gained a few pounds. He was very aware of this, and was disgusted with himself for not being able to control it.

Alec took shallow breaths, his throat feeling like it was swelling shut.

"Alec?" there was a light knock on his door, Jace's voice breaking through Alec's sobs.

Alec froze, trying to be as silent as possible so Jace would go away.

Jace pushed the door open anyway, entering the room and closing the door behind him. "What's wrong?" he asked, crawling into bed with his brother.

Instantly, Alec started crying harder than before. He couldn't get a single word out, only broken syllables and heavy breathing.

"Hey, hey, hey," Jace said, pulling him into a hug, "It's okay, Alec. You can talk to me. I'm here for you," Jace tried to console him, his shirt already damp with Alec's tears.

Alec cried for many minutes, Jace rubbing his back and speaking encouragement. Finally, Alec was able to speak. "S-sebastian has a new boyfriend," he hiccuped, rubbing his eyes angrily. "He's been flirting with him behind my back for weeks."

"Oh, Alec, I'm sorry," Jace said.

"Then, at lunch, he got in a fight with all of our friends. They called him awful things, and I don't think he did it to upset me on purpose, so I kept defending him. I think all of my friends are mad at me. And I had a surprise test that I didn't study for and I think I failed it. And I got my biochem test back and I got a 48%. Then soccer was cancelled and I couldn't take my mind off of anything all day. Then I upset you by helping Magnus, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Jace. You were right about Sebastian. Then at dinner I ate like a fucking pig and I'm so fat. And I hate myself," Alec said, sobbing again as Jace hugged him.

Jace didn't know what to say or where to begin. He never in a million years expected Alec to say 'fucking'. He also knew that meant Alec was far more upset than he was leading on. Jace kicked himself for not talking to him earlier, but for now he just tried to coax him back into his normal somewhat happy self.

"Alec, I'm sure your friends aren't mad at you. If anything, they are just angry at Sebastian and upset with the situation. They all love you, and they aren't going to hold a grudge over this. And you are a straight A student. One or two bad test scores won't ruin you. There is always extra credit and points you can earn back. Besides, the teachers adore you. All of them would be willing to help you."

"B-but if I failed these, they won't like me any more. I'll just be another student to them," Alec said, hating that he was so insecure.

"Everyone makes mistakes. Your teachers know you. Their ideas of you will not change because of one day. And I'm not upset with you. I think it's really nice of you to help someone even though I hate him. You have a kindness that I've never seen in anyone. Even if I am upset with you, I still love you, Alec. Even if we aren't blood related, you are the best brother I could ever ask for."

Alec quit crying, his face welted with red splotches. He brought his knees to his chest, hugging them close. "Thanks, Jace."

"And you're not fat," Jace said, grabbing Alec's chin to look him in the eyes. "If I have ever said anything to you that made you think that, I'm sorry. You are not fat, Alec."

Though Alec still didn't believe it, he felt better that Jace said it. "I'm sorry," he said.

"For what?" Jace asked.

"For making you come in here. And for not listening to you about Sebastian. And for making you feel bad for me," Alec said, putting his forehead to his knees and covering his head with his arms. It was a defense mechanism he had since he was a young child living with his real dad. "I'm so sorry, Jace."

"Don't be sorry, Alec. You didn't do anything wrong, okay? You don't need to apologize." It broke Jace's heart to see his brother so insecure and mistakenly at fault. "You should probably get some sleep. Are you okay for the night?" Jace asked, completely willing to lie next to his brother all night if he needed it.

Alec sat up straight and nodded, "I'm fine."

"You sure?" Jace asked. "I can stay a little longer if you want."

"I'm okay," Alec said, closing his laptop and putting it on his nightstand before pulling the covers tight around him.

Jace gave Alec a quick pat on the back then got up to leave.

"Thank you, Jace," Alec said quietly.

"Anytime," Jace said, closing the door after him.

(Line Break)

Magnus sat in his room, petting Chairman Meow while he called up Camille.

"Hello, Magnus. How's my favorite piece of man ass doing?"

"I am just wonderful, Cam. You would not believe what clever and fabulous thing I did today."

"Ooh, dish, Mags. I need to hear this."

Magnus, very satisfied with himself, told Camille about his ingenious act, "I saw the lovely Mr. Alexander Lightwood walk to the bleachers today, and I thought to myself, 'why wait until Friday?'" Magnus smiled at himself, "I didn't want to intimidate him, so I pretended to have some car trouble. After all you said he was like a car genius."

"So what did he do when he found out you were faking your car trouble?" Camille asked with a laugh.

"That's just it. I unscrewed some random part so he wouldn't know. Then I played helpless and he practically ran to me," Magnus said, smiling at the memory of Alec shyly walking over. "It was one of my better plans."

Camille whistled, "I'm impressed. Did you get his number?"

Magnus was silent long enough for Camille to laugh. "You didn't get his number?! You're off your game, Bane. What happened?"

"It wasn't my fault. Stupid Jace came over and practically yelled at him. If I had just ten more seconds with him, I could have gotten his number, and we would be sexting right now."

Camille scoffed, "Yeah right. You've gone soft. Are you still going to ask him out on Friday?"

"No. I told him I wanted to take him out to coffee for fixing my car, and I gave him my number. I'm sure he's going to call before Friday."

"What if he doesn't?" Camille asked, making her friend frown.

"He will call. I know it." Magnus didn't want to think about Alec not calling him, so he changed the subject. "How was your date?"

Camille bit her lip, trying to restrain her smile. "It was awesome. Her parents weren't home so we spent a lot of time making out. We have another date Saturday. She's coming over to my house. Which means you can't be there, sorry Mags."

"I won't be mad if you tell me who she is," Magnus said, dying to know who Camille was dating.

"Fine. It's Maia Roberts," she said quietly. "But you can't tell anyone or I will ruin every chance you will ever have with Alec."

"Oooh! Cami, Maia's cute. She seems very army strong type. Is she a good kisser?"

Camille giggled, something she didn't do often. "Yeah. She wears peppermint lip gloss and it tastes like heaven."

"What base did you hit?" Magnus asked, ignoring Chairman Meow's plea for attention.

"I almost got second," Camille said, indignantly.

" _Almost_? And you say I've gone soft," Magnus teased.

"Oh shut up. Shouldn't you be setting more traps for Alec? Are you going to show up on his doorstep with the air let out of your tires?"

"Oh haha, you're so funny," Magnus said sarcastically. "My plan worked. He's going to call me any day now."

"I'm sure he is. The second he does, you're going to tell me, right?"

"Of course," Magnus said. "And you'll text me when you finally hit second base?" Magnus heard Camille snort.

"Sure. I'll call you later. Maia's texting."

"Bye, Cam." Magnus hung up the phone, and picked up his cat, looking him in the face. "You think Alec will call?" Chairman Meow stayed silent, making Magnus nervous. He tossed the cat to the floor, "What do you know? You're just a cat." Chairman mewed loudly before scurrying out of the room. "He'll call," Magnus said, more to himself than to the cat.

(Line Break)

Alec woke up Tuesday morning with a splitting headache. He supposed it was caused by dehydration, but he also thought his lack of sleep could be contributing.

"Hey, Alec," Izzy said, entering his room without knocking. "Are you feeling better? Jace said you were sick last night."

Alec mentally made a note to thank Jace for covering for him and smiled at his sister, "I'm better. I have an awful headache though."

"Here," Izzy said, handing two small white pills and a bottle of water to her brother. "Mom sent them up. She said if you are still feeling bad, she can set up an appointment with your doctor."

Alec sat up, taking the medicine and drinking half of the water. "I'm fine," he said, grabbing his glasses from the nightstand and putting them on.

"Okay, I'll go tell Mom. She'll probably be up in a minute to check on you herself."

"Thanks, Iz," Alec said, getting out of bed. Isabelle left with a smile as Alec got ready for the day. He dreaded going to see all of his friends after yesterday, but he knew he had to face them sometime.

"Alexander, honey, are you sure you're feeling okay?" Maryse asked, coming into his room and spinning him towards her. "Your face is so red, and you're a bit warm. Do you want to stay home and get some rest? I can call into work and get a half day."

"I'm okay, Mom, really," Alec said, though a day at home in bed sounded great.

Maryse prodded his face and forehead, determining for herself that he was unfit for school. "Just take one day and get some rest. Tomorrow you can go back to school."

"Yes ma'am," Alec said, glad his mother was so good to him.

"Good," Maryse smiled, kissing her son on the forehead. "Get some good sleep. I'll call at lunch to check on you. Bye, sweetie," she said, hurrying off to work.

Alec quickly changed back into his pajamas and curled up in bed. As he reached for his laptop, he saw something on his hand. Puzzled, he brought it close to his face, peering through his glasses at the smeared phone number. "Oh no," he said quietly. How was he supposed to call Magnus if the phone number was unreadable? Alec bit his lip, trying to distinguish the number. All he could decipher was a three and a seven. Or maybe that was an eight and a four?

"What are you looking at?" Jace asked, barging into his room and sitting in his desk chair.

Alec blushed and put his hand down. "Nothing. I just wrote a reminder for something on my hand and now I can't remember what it said." Alec was surprised at how smoothly the lie came out. He didn't plan to make it a habit, but it was good to know he wasn't terrible at it.

"I hate when that happens," Jace said, putting his feet up on the desk. "Is Mom letting you stay home today?"

Alec nodded, "Yep."

Jace smiled, "Excellent. What are you going to do all day? Play video games and watch porn? That's what I would do."

Alec made a face, "No. I'm probably going to study and maybe play the new expansion on Shadowhunters vs. Dragons."

"You have a day off. Why would you spend it studying? Do something fun. You deserve it." Jace glanced at his watch, "Oh shit, I'm going to be late." He stood up rushing to the door. "Seriously have some fun, okay?"

"Okay," Alec agreed.

Jace smiled widely, "Good."

For the next two hours, Alec laid in bed playing Shadowhunters vs. Dragons. He had to admit, the warlock expansion was pretty neat. Plus, he always had a spot in his heart for warlocks even if they were the softest race to play as. At around ten thirty, he checked his phone to see he had numerous messages from his friends asking him if he was okay. Instead of replying to each individual message, he started a group message, excluding Sebastian, and said: _I'm fine. Jace convinced Mom I was sick, so I'm playing the new expansion. Take good notes for me._

Jordan and Eric then began texting him about all of the new features while Clary kept him up to date on the classwork he was missing. Alec suddenly felt very relieved that they weren't mad at him.

Alec's feeling of relief vanished, however, when he got a text message from Sebastian. He knew that reading it was going to upset him, but he was vastly curious as to what it said. Biting his lip, he opened it.

 _Alec, I think we need to talk. I didn't mean to upset you, and I want to clear the air._

Alec's heart felt heavy reading the message. He knew Sebastian didn't mean to hurt him, but he also knew that Sebastian was too self centered to ever notice Alec's feelings. Alec deleted the message, and all others Sebastian had ever sent. After doing so, he felt strangely powerful. Like he could do anything if he could delete those messages.

Alec quickly exited out of his game, getting onto his facebook. He went straight to Magnus' page, his mouse hovering over the 'send message' button. Alec took a deep breath willing his index finger to click, but it wouldn't move. "You can do this, Alec," he said, staring at his finger like he could move it through telekinesis. "Come on, just click the button," he muttered, but he couldn't do it. He could feel his heart beating like a drum and he held his breath as he finally clicked. The new window opened, and Alec stared at the line 'write your message here.' "What am I even going to say?" He quickly exited out of the window before groaning and clicking the button again. "I am not going to chicken out of this," he said, determined.

 _Hey, Magnus, I'm sorry that I didn't call. I accidentally lost your number. If you are serious about the coffee_

"No that's stupid," Alec said, erasing all of it.

 _Magnus! Sorry I didn't call. I lost your number, and I was wondering if you still wanted to_

"That's too aggressive," Alec bit his lip, backspacing again.

 _Hello Magnus! I am sorry to say that your number was washed from my hand before I had a chance to put it in my cell phone. If you are still serious about getting coffee, I would be inclined to join you._

"That's way too formal," Alec groaned, deleting the message and exiting from the window again. "I'll just plan what I'm going to say, then I will send the message," he decided.

That's when he got 'One new message from Magnus Bane.'

(Line Break)

Magnus sat next to Ragnor in his fourth period study hall, playing on his phone. "He still hasn't called," Magnus grumbled.

Ragnor rolled his eyes, "It hasn't even been twenty four hours yet. Give the kid a break."

"Do you think he will call?" Magnus asked.

"He might," Ragnor said, looking at his fingernails, "The earth also might crack in half."

Now it was Magnus' turn to roll his eyes, "Why wouldn't he call? I'm good looking. And I was really nice to him," Magnus said, staring his phone down, hoping to get a text message.

"Oh yes, the great and generous Magnus broke his own car and tricked the young Alec into fixing it so he could prey on him."

"It worked, didn't it?" Magnus said defensively. "Maybe I should just send him a message on facebook. Camille said he was shy, so I can just nudge him in the right direction."

Ragnor looked dubious, "I don't know, Magnus. You might just be scaring him away. What if he needs time to think about all of that," Ragnor said gesturing to Magnus' skinny jeans and purple sequined blazer with a plain black shirt underneath.

Magnus stuck his tongue out at Ragnor and proceeded to get on facebook. "I'm sure he just accidentally washed my number off," Magnus said, opening Alec's page. "That or Jace scrubbed it away. Dumb Blondie," he muttered the last part. "I'll just send him a message and ask him out. I'll say it's about repaying him for fixing my car so he won't just run in fear," Magnus said, clicking the 'send message' button. "You won't believe this," Magnus said with a smile.

"What? Did he send you a dick pic?" Ragnor asked.

Magnus smacked at his face like a cat swatting away an unwanted pet, "Shut the hell up. He's typing right now, look," Magnus said, showing Ragnor the little moving dots signalling Alec's message.

"I'll be damned. He's actually going to talk to you," Ragnor said.

"Of course he is," Magnus said, though he had not been sure Alec would even consider it. "I'm magnificent."

Magnus watched his phone eagerly, waiting for Alec's message. The dots continued for a moment, then they went away. Then they showed up again, only to go away a second later. "Come on, Alec, just send me a hello," Magnus said, more than ready to respond to whatever Alec had to say.

Ragnor, who was watching like a hawk over Magnus' shoulder, spoke, "Maybe you should sent a message to get the ball rolling."

"You think?" Magnus asked, watching the typing signal flash on and off.

"Yeah. If he can't think of the right thing to say, he's just going to give up. Send him in the right direction, Mags."

Magnus looked back at his phone, seeing that Alec had not been typing in a few seconds. "Fine. I'll send him something."

 _Hey, Alec. It was really nice meeting you yesterday. I would really like to repay you for fixing my car. You were a real lifesaver. Can I buy you coffee Friday before the game?_

"How's that?" Magnus asked, showing Ragnor the message.

"Perfect," Ragnor said, hitting the send button before Magnus could stop him. "You emphasized on complimenting him, and you set a definite window of time."

Magnus was about to say something to Ragnor when he got a new message from Alec.

 _Hey, Magnus. Coffee on Friday sounds great. Sorry I didn't call, your number got smeared before I put it in my phone._

"He said yes!" Magnus said loudly, a wide smile on his face.

"Mr. Bane, this is a study hall not a hooligan's house," Mrs. Imogen said.

"Sorry," Magnus said with an apologetic smile. He showed the message to Ragnor, not able to dim his smile.

"Give him your number," Ragnor said. "That's the shy guy's way of asking for it. I know. Remember when Malcolm used to be like that? He said shy people never give their number out in fear of being too forward. And they never ask for it because they also don't want to seem too into you."

"You think he's into me?" Magnus asked, quickly sending his phone number to Alec.

Ragnor snorted, "Why else would he agree to go on a date with you?"

The smile on Magnus' face grew wider as he got a text message on his phone.

 _Hey, this is Alec. Here is my number, just so you have it._

Magnus quickly saved the number under 'Alec (heart)'.

 _Alec Lightwood. Just to be clear._

 _From yesterday._

Magnus' heart melted. "Look at how cute he is," he said showing Ragnor the messages.

"Omg, he's the cutest," Ragnor said in a mocking fangirl voice.

"Shut up," Magnus muttered, "He is the cutest."

(Line Break)

Jace worried all day about Alec. He hated that his brother was so self conscious and had such an internal locus of control. He also felt like part of that was his fault. Sure, he tried to boost Alec up by telling him he deserved a good boyfriend, but he also made fun of him when he went to summer camp. And he pointed out on numerous occasions how much Alec could eat. He didn't mean for Alec to get a bad self image. He just liked teasing him. The same way Alec would tell him he was awful at getting 'smart girls' to date him. Jace just wanted to make things right, and he knew what he had to do. Even if he thought it would kill him. Besides, it would work in perfectly with his master plan...

"Magnus," Jace said, sitting down next to Magnus in their last period class.

Magnus looked up from his phone, his smile immediately disappearing when he saw Jace's face. "What? No insult?"

Jace looked him in the eyes, very serious, "I need you to do me a favor."

"Why the hell would I ever in a million years do something for you?" Magnus asked, putting his phone in the pocket of his sequined blazer.

Jace rolled his eyes, "It's not really a favor for me so much as a favor for my brother. You owe him for fixing your car."

As much as Magnus hated Jace, he kept quiet about their date. He knew Alec wouldn't want Jace to be mad. He also knew that he would do just about anything for Alec when it came to favors. "What do you want?" Magnus asked, eyeing Jace carefully.

"You'll do it?" Jace asked.

"Tell me what it is first," Magnus said, though he planned to do it anyway if it was for Alec.

Jace leaned in close. "Alec has been kind of down lately because of an ex-boyfriend of his, and I need someone to boost his self esteem."

"What exactly are you asking me to do?" Magnus asked.

"I just want you to tell him he looks hot or sexy or something. He won't take it seriously if one of my friends says it because he'll think I told them to say it," Jace explained. "If it comes from someone like you," Jace said, gesturing to Magnus' skinny jeans and purple sequin blazer, "He won't suspect anything, and maybe he will gain a little confidence in himself."

Magnus smiled, not only because Jace was the second person to gesture to his magnificent outfit that day, but because his arch enemy was giving him permission to hit on his brother. "I'll do it. Mainly because I won't get another chance to talk dirty to your brother with your permission," Magnus laughed at the awful expression on Jace's face.

"I said nothing about talking dirty. Just say he looks cute or something. Nothing that you wouldn't say in front of your grandmother," Jace said.

"Don't hinder my creative liberties," Magnus said. "If it's not in my own words, it won't be believable."

Jace groaned, "I knew this would kill me," he muttered, "Please don't be too crass. He's sensitive."

"Don't worry," Magnus said, enjoying how much this irked Jace, "I'll make little Alexander feel so very _good_ ," he said, using his best sex voice right in Jace's ear.

"Oh god," Jace said, putting his face in his hands, "I've made a huge mistake."

 **Thanks for reading! I really appreciate you all for this. And you got a sneak peek into Jace's master plan. More to come soon! Please leave a review! HAPPY NEW YEAR!**


	8. It's not a date Is it?

**Chapter Eight: It's not a date… Is it?**

Thursday night, Alec sat in his room, staring at the message from Magnus on facebook. After thinking about it all day Wednesday and Thursday, Alec began to freak out. He had no idea if it was a date or not. It could just be Magnus wanting to thank him in a friendly way for helping out. But it could also be an invitation for a date with the smooth pretense of thanking him. Either way, Alec felt unprepared for tomorrow. He didn't know what to do in these situations. Sebastian never really took him on dates. They would just hang out at school or each other's houses. Never dates. And now Alec was properly worried because he didn't know what he was supposed to do or say or wear. If it was a date he should dress up, but if it's not a date, he wants a date with Magnus so he should dress up. But it's just coffee. He shouldn't dress up too much. Alec ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"Mom!" he called, not knowing what else to do. Mother knows best, right?

"Yes, Alec?" Maryse asked, coming into his room with some of his laundry.

"I need your opinion on something," Alec said, getting out of his desk chair and taking his laptop to his mom. "Is this a date?"

Maryse put the laundry down on the dresser top and took the computer from her son, reading the messages from Magnus. As she read them, Alec bit his lip and shifted on his feet. He didn't know what to want. On one hand, he didn't want to hurt Jace's feelings and dating wasn't exactly something he did often, but on the other hand, Magnus was very hot and he was actually interested in Alec.

"Yes, I think so. Is this Jace's Magnus by any chance?" she asked, looking over the top of the computer at her son. Alec wasn't surprised she made the connection. Really, how many people were named Magnus Bane?

Alec scratched the back of his head and looked at the floor, "Yeah. Please don't tell him yet."

"I won't say anything unless you have a second date. I want to meet this boy, okay?" Maryse said, handing the laptop back to Alec. As she began putting away his clean laundry, she vocalized her concerns, "I don't want another Sebastian repeat. He was nothing but bad news. If you are going to start dating this Magnus boy, you bring him to meet me. You deserve someone who respects you enough to meet your mother on the second date. You need to let him know that you deserve someone good. I know Jace exaggerates a lot, but if I even catch a whiff of disrespect or manipulation, I will give that boy a piece of my mind."

"It's just one date, Mom," Alec said, "And I'm not even convinced it's a real date yet," he muttered.

"Of course it's a real date, Alec," Maryse said, hanging up his school shirts, "You are a very handsome and intelligent young man. Now you let this boy buy you coffee and have a good time, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," Alec said, a little nervous.

"And try not to wear any of your school shirts. That might be a little intimidating for someone who goes to public school. Plus you always stain them. Why don't you and Jace go to the mall tonight and get some new clothes?"

"I heard my name," Jace said, leaning on the doorframe of Alec's room. "What's up?"

"I was just telling Alec that you two should go to the mall and get him some new clothes," Maryse said.

"What for?" Jace asked, glancing at Alec with an odd expression on his face that Alec just couldn't place.

"Alec has a date tomorrow," Maryse said with a smile and an 'isn't he cute' look at Jace.

"Mom!" Alec said, his cheeks burning up.

"Oh, does he now?" Jace smiled and returned the look, "Who with?"

"No one," Alec said quickly, burying his face in his hands.

"If he doesn't want to tell, don't push him," Maryse said, "Now go help him pick out some casual clothes. They're getting coffee."

After an awkward car ride to the mall filled with silence and weird glances from Jace, Alec stood in some department store wishing he had never called his mother into his room.

"What about this?" Jace asked, handing Alec a shirt with a cat in space riding a piece of pizza.

"As artful as that is, no," Alec said, handing the shirt right back.

Jace laughed, clearly in a good mood, "What's he like?" Jace asked. "Is he nerdy? Or does he play sports?"

Alec shrugged, "I don't really know. He seems really…" Alec paused, trying to think of a good word to describe Magnus, "tall."

"Tall?" Jace looked at Alec incredulously, "He seems tall?"

"I don't know, Jace. I guess he likes clothes. He wears a lot of them," Alec said, suddenly aware of how little he knew about Magnus.

"Okay," Jace said, hiding his expression and moving to a different section of the store, "He's tall and wears clothes."

"Yeah," Alec said, crossing his arms and following Jace to the pants.

"Here, you can't go wrong with a good pair of jeans," Jace said handing Alec a pair of light wash straight leg jeans. "Go try them on, and let me see."

Alec did as he was told, emerging from the dressing room moments later in a pair of jeans that fit him very well.

"Good," Jace said, "Turn around, let me see the back." Alec wearily turned away from Jace who eyed him closely. "Those are nice. How do they feel?"

"Fine," Alec said.

"Okay, we'll get those. Now, let's find you a good shirt."

After twenty minutes and a few more vague adjectives to describe Magnus, Alec had a decent outfit to wear. Jace also bought him a few more pairs of jeans and a couple shirts, just because they had the credit card.

"Are you excited for your date?" Jace asked while on the drive home.

Alec shrugged, "I'm not even sure it's a date."

Jace rolled his eyes, "If Mom says it's a date, it's a date. Besides, you're a good looking guy. Of course it's a date."

"But what if it's not? And I let myself get excited for nothing."

"Then you can ask him out on a real date and get excited for that. Just relax. I'm sure everything will work out fine," Jace reassured him. "You might even get lucky, if you know what I mean," Jace waggled his eyebrows at Alec.

Alec blushed darkly and muttered under his breath. Jace laughed, happy that his brother was finally moving on from Sebastian.

(Line Break)

Magnus checked his makeup for the twelfth time in his compact mirror. Despite his confident personality, Magnus was very nervous about this. He didn't want to scare Alec away or ruin his chances with a second date. That would just make Jace hate him more. He was surprised Jace allowed Alec to even come on this date, surprised, but very thankful. Magnus checked his phone, seeing a good luck text from Camille. He sent a quick thanks and checked his hair in his mirror. Everything was still in place. He wanted to tone it down a little for Alec, so he just wore some of his not so tight skinny jeans and a royal blue long sleeved shirt to show his school spirit. After all, he was waterboy, he had to wear school colors to their first football game. Magnus checked his makeup again, just a simple eyeliner, glitter, and clear lip gloss. His hair was styled into spikes, but he left down a few hairs to frame his face. Magnus checked his watch, seeing that there was still ten minutes before Alec was supposed to meet him here.

Magnus looked to the door, but Alec still wasn't here. Unconsciously, Magnus' leg started bouncing up and down under the table. He glanced around the coffee shop, but he didn't see anyone he knew. He supposed it was because it was closer to the academy than it was to his school.

"Magnus?" a shy voice called out to him.

Magnus turned his neck so quickly, he was almost scared he gave himself whiplash. "Alec!" He stood up, looking at Alec standing nervously. "Hi," he said with a genuine smile.

"Hey," Alec said, his hands in the front pocket of his gold and green soccer hoodie. He was clearly nervous, so Magnus did his best to make him comfortable.

"Have a seat, I will order us some coffee. How do you take it?" He asked as Alec sat down in the corner table across from where Magnus was moments ago.

"Black, please," he said politely.

Magnus grinned at him and went to the counter to order a black coffee, a chai tea latte, and two blueberry scones. While waiting on their order to be ready, he went back to sit by Alec.

"Thanks for the coffee," Alec said.

"Thanks for fixing my car," Magnus quipped. "I know coffee doesn't even come close to being even, but it's a start."

Alec smiled, feeling more and more like this was not a date. "You really didn't have to do this," he said, "It was no big deal."

Magnus waved off the comment, "Because of your handy work, I didn't have to walk home. Which means I didn't get blisters on my feet. That's a big deal." Magnus watched Alec closely as he said his next words, "Plus, why would I ever skip out on a date with a cute guy?"

Alec's cheeks darkened and he looked down at the table with a small smile. "Are you meeting him after this?" Alec teased.

Magnus laughed again, "Hey, give yourself some credit. You're very handsome."

"You sound like my mom," Alec said looking up to Magnus' eyes for the first time.

Magnus was distracted at how clear and blue Alec's eyes were behind his contact lenses. "Well, your mom sounds very intelligent."

Another shy smile graced Alec's face, revealing two small dimples. Magnus internally awwed at how cute he was.

Alec looked down at his hands before glancing up to Magnus' face. "I think you're very handsome, too."

This time, Magnus couldn't have stopped his smile if he tried, "Thank you, Alec."

"Magnus!" the coffee waiter called.

Magnus casually waved his hand, signalling him to their table.

"Black coffee, chai tea latte, and two blueberry scones," he said, putting the order down on the table. "Hey, Alec."

"Hi, Simon," Alec said, "I didn't know you were working tonight."

"Yeah, I was going to play Shadowhunters vs. Dragons with Eric and Jordan, but Clary called in sick so she could go to Jace's game," Simon explained, pushing up his glasses. "Who's this?" he asked gesturing to Magnus.

"Oh," Alec blushed, "uh, this is Magnus. Magnus, this is my friend Simon," Alec introduced them, hoping that Simon wouldn't say anything embarrassing.

"Nice to meet you," Magnus said, extending a hand.

Simon shook it, looking closely at Magnus, "Likewise. Say, Alec, Magnus sure looks a lot like the new warlock character you made for the expansion," he said with a 'I caught you' smile.

Magnus eyebrows raised at the statement, making Alec blush again.

"Coincidence," Alec muttered, shoeing Simon away. Alec hid his face behind his hands, praying that Magnus wouldn't mention it.

"So tell me about this warlock," Magnus said.

Alec felt like dying of embarrassment, "It's just a coincidence, I promise," he said, taking a drink of his coffee.

"Well, I think it's cute," Magnus said, sipping at his latte. He passed Alec a scone and smiled. "I hope you like blueberry."

Alec took the scone cautiously, "I do, thanks." Alec didn't touch the pastry, not wanting to look like a pig in front of Magnus.

Magnus took a bite out of his own scone, making Alec wonder how he didn't even smear his lip gloss. "So, Alec," he said, "tell me a little bit about yourself."

Of course, this was the part Alec was most worried about. He and Jace had rehearsed a few different lines, but Alec's mind had gone blank. "Uhm," he said, looking at his hand and wishing he had wrote them down. "I play soccer."

"Interesting," Magnus said, like he didn't know that already, "I don't know much about soccer, but it looks fun."

Alec nodded, sipping at his coffee some more, "I enjoy it. It's something to keep me in shape."

Magnus thought briefly to his conversation with Jace. "And what a wonderful shape it keeps you in," he said, overtly checking Alec out.

Alec's cheeks flamed up again, "What about you?" he asked, changing the subject away from himself.

Magnus picked another piece off of his scone, popping it into his mouth, "What do you want to know?"

Alec shrugged, "Anything. When my brother asked what you were like, all I said was 'tall and wears a lot of clothes,'" he said with a blush and a small smile.

Magnus laughed, realizing that Jace didn't know it was him Alec was on a date with,. "At least you're accurate. I'm very tall and I do often wear clothes. I also watch a lot of Netflix and enjoy piña coladas."

Alec laughed, making Magnus' heart melt. "Do you also like getting caught in the rain?"

Magnus smiled. "Of course. I am into yoga, though, and I have half a brain. I especially like making love at midnight," he said with a wink. "Though not in the dunes on a cape."

Another wave of red ran over Alec's face, but he was laughing nonetheless. "How do you do that?" Alec asked, curiosity shining in his eyes.

"What?" Magnus asked, confused by the question.

"How do you talk so openly about… that stuff?"

Magnus shrugged, "I have no shame. I want people to like me for what I am, not just pieces they might catch a glimpse of," he said, eating the last of his scone and licking his fingers in a way that made Alec's eyes dilate slightly.

"That's very poetic," Alec said quietly, knowing that the image of Magnus' mouth around his finger would not leave his brain for a long _long_ time.

"Do I remind you of Shakespeare?" Magnus said, pretending to hold a skull in his hand. "Are you my Anne Hathaway?"

Alec scoffed at Magnus' behavior, "'We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.'" Alec quoted.

"Oh," Magnus said with a smirk, "Handsome and well read. I'm impressed."

Alec bit his lip with a shrug, not knowing what to say. Magnus was so interesting and neat, and he was just so boring. He had no idea why Magnus hadn't made some excuse and left yet. Sure, Alec was having a wonderful time, but there was no way Magnus was enjoying himself, right? Afterall, Alec was just plain and unembellished.

"I take it you don't like blueberry," Magnus said, referring to Alec's untouched pastry.

Not wanting to offend Magnus, Alec shook his head, "No, I do, really. I just…" Alec didn't know what to say. He didn't want to be rude by making Magnus feel like he had wasted his money. "I don't like eating on dates," he said lamely, mentally berating himself.

Alec expected Magnus to prod and make fun of him, but instead, Magnus took the scone and began wrapping it up. "Here," he said, handing Alec the pastry wrapped up in the papery bag it came in. "Take it with you so you'll think of me later."

Alec was surprised at the gesture. It was simple, but it was also gave him a deep trust and thankfulness for Magnus. Magnus had somehow read Alec's feelings and played them off in a very supportive, but respectful way. Alec couldn't help but feel like Magnus was some sort of genie mind reader. He was monumentally more considerate than Sebastian had ever been. "Thank you, Magnus," Alec said, holding the bag carefully in his pale hands.

Magnus offered Alec a kind smile, "You're very welcome. Now, we had better head off to the game. I need to fill the bottles before Coach blows his top again," Magnus said, standing up with his latte in one hand and his keys in the other.

Alec stood as well, taking his coffee and bagged scone both in his right hand. He followed Magnus towards the door, walking directly behind him to avoid the early evening rush of the coffee shop.

"Oh no, my shoe's untied," Magnus said, bending down so suddenly that Alec's crotch ran smack into his ass. Alec immediately took two steps back, his entire face and neck a fiery color. Magnus concealed his smile as he stood and turned around to face Alec, "Sorry about that."

"It's okay," Alec said, not daring to look at Magnus' face.

They continued walking until they were outside. Magnus paused, leaning against the brick wall of the coffee shop. Alec, unsure if he was just supposed to leave or stay and say goodbye, stood a few feet away, glancing nervously at Magnus as he lit up a cigarette.

"I hope you don't mind that I smoke," Magnus said, replacing his pack in his back pocket and his lighter in his front.

"I don't mind," Alec said, secretly loving the smell of smoke, though he would never do it.

Magnus smiled, stepping closer to Alec. "I've really enjoyed this date," he said holding Alec's gaze.

Alec nodded, not wanting to agree out loud in case this was some sort of embarrassing joke where five camera men pop out and tell him it was all fake. Knowing that _probably_ wasn't the case, he muttered a quiet, "Yeah," breaking the eye contact and looking at his feet.

Magnus looked discouraged for half a second before he looked confident again. "Would you like to go on another one sometime? Maybe I could buy you dinner."

Alec looked up surprised, "Really?"

"Of course," he said with a smile, taking another drag of his quickly burning cigarette. He blew the smoke to the side, not wanting Alec to be targeted.

"This isn't some sort of cruel joke?" Alec asked, despite not wanting to sound crazy, he needed the reassurance.

Magnus looked strangely at Alec, "No. It's not a joke. I really like you," he said honestly.

"Cool," Alec said, not able to restrain the smile on his lips.

"So, is that a yes to dinner?" Magnus asked, loving that beautiful smile.

Alec nodded eagerly, "Yes, definitely," then he remembered what his mother said. "My mom wants to meet you."

Magnus laughed, "You talked to your mom about me?" he said, leaning back against the wall and glancing sideways at him.

Alec blushed, leaning against the wall as well, shoving his scone and hands in his hoodie pocket. "You may have come up," he said casually, scared that Magnus would suddenly realize he was a total dork and back out.

"Does Jace know about us?" Magnus asked, gaging Alec's reaction.

"No," Alec said. "I wanted to see if the date went well before I told him I've betrayed him," he said with a small smile.

Magnus returned the smile, putting out his cigarette against the wall before tossing it into his latte cup. "How about I take you and your mom out to dinner Sunday night? Jace never has to know."

Alec suddenly felt like he was in a dream. There was no way Magnus was real. Someone that attractive couldn't be this nice. He's perfect. Without warning, Alec's mind flashed back to Magnus licking his fingers.

"Alec?" Magnus asked, waving his hand in front of Alec's face.

"Oh, uh, sorry," he said with another blush. He shook his head slightly, trying to wash the dirty images out of his brain. "I would love that. My mom likes dinner."

Magnus laughed, "You are too cute," he said. "Come on, I'll walk you to your car," he said, jerking his head in the direction of the parking lot. Alec followed him, not wanting to stand too close so as not to invade Magnus' personal space.

Magnus threw away his cup in the trash can on the sidewalk, wanting to reach out and hold Alec's hand, but scared he was being too forward. Before he had the chance, they were standing next to Alec's green car.

"Thanks for everything," Alec said, digging in his front pocket for his keys.

"Trust me, it's my pleasure," he said, enjoying Alec's slight embarrassment. "Maybe I'll see you around halftime tonight."

"Yeah," Alec said, unlocking his car and opening the door.

Magnus bounced once on his feet making a split decision. He leaned forward and kissed Alec on the cheek, feeling the warmth of his soft skin beneath his lips. "Bye, Alec," Magnus said, turning to walk towards his car.

Alec stood frozen for a moment, his cheek practically on fire where Magnus' lips were. His kiss was so much more tender than Sebastian's ever was. It was like a wisp of sweet heaven to Alec. He couldn't move or speak or think. All he could do was slowly sink down into his car, thinking that he would wake up from this dream at any moment. "Bye, Magnus," Alec said, even though his door was closed and Magnus was already driving away.

(Line Break)

"Jace, I just saw your brother on a date with the Sparkle King," Will said, when he burst into the football meeting house.

Jace rolled his eyes, "No shit. I've been trying to get them to go out for at least a week now. It's all part of my master plan. Though, I do have to admit he's a little ahead of schedule," Jace said, leaning casually against the wall and inspecting his nails.

"What master plan?" Will asked, his dark blue eyes shining in confusion. "Are you planning to take Magnus down by using your brother? That's a little cruel. Even for you."

Jace scoffed, "Don't worry about it. Let's just say someone is going down, but I can't guarantee it will be Magnus."

"Jace, I don't think you should be doing this to Alec," Will said. "Yeah he's a little _odd_ , but you can't tell me that after all the years you've been living with him, you're going back to your old ways."

"Oh chill you panties off, Herondale. Come with me; I'll share my plan with you," Jace said, pulling Will off to a side room.

(Line Break)

Alec sat in the bleachers with Clary, watching the game drag on. He was so excited for halftime. Not only because of the nachos but because he might have a chance to see Magnus again.

"So which one is Magnus?" Clary asked, scanning the sideline. She and Simon had apparently been texting since Alec was on his date.

"The one in the blue shirt," Alec said, nodding in Magnus' general direction.

"Oh, how could I not spot an attractive man in a blue shirt at a football game where practically everyone is wearing a blue shirt," Clary said sarcastically.

Alec rolled his eyes and laughed, "He's the tall one standing behind number fifty four."

Clary searched for a minute more before she spotted him. "That's Magnus?" She glanced back at Alec to see his bright blush. "He's way hotter than you described him. When you said, 'tall and nice looking,' I thought you meant he would be a total nerd. He's man candy," Clary said.

Alec nodded, not a disagreement in his mind. "And he's really nice."

"Does he have a brother?" Clary asked, making Alec laugh.

"Aren't you here for Jace?"

Clary laughed, "Right. Who is he again?" she joked.

"Blonde, annoying, totally in love with you. Ring any bells?" Alec said.

"Oh right," Clary played along, "I think I'm starting to remember."

Suddenly, the buzzer for halftime rang, making Alec grab Clary's arm and pull her towards the concession stand. "Come on. We need to get in line."

"What's the rush?" Clary asked, her short legs barely keeping up with Alec's long strides.

"No rush. I just want to get some food," Alec said, internally cringing at how that made him sound. Maybe he should skip the food tonight…

"Alec," a voice called from his left. Alec and Clary turned to see Magnus half trotting towards them. "Hey," he said when he was standing less than two feet away.

"Hey, Magnus," Alec said, hoping that Clary wouldn't say anything embarrassing like Simon did.

Clary extended her hand, "Hi, I'm Clary. It's so nice to meet you, Magnus. I would say I've heard a lot about you, but all Alec has said was 'tall and nice looking.'"

"Clary," Alec warned, his eyes glaring a threat in her direction. He needed to get new friends that weren't so embarrassing.

Magnus laughed, "I do believe you need to work on your adjectives, Alec. Though you are very accurate, you are nondescript." Magnus shook Clary's hand with a quaint smile, "It's lovely making your acquaintance. Are you both getting something?" Magnus gestured towards the snack stand.

"No," Alec said at the same time Clary said, "Yes, we are."

Magnus smiled, "I'll join you in line," he said, leading the way to stand behind the other concession goers.

"So, Magnus," Clary said, "Do you enjoy being waterboy?"

"Oh yes," Magnus said, "At first I was doing it to annoy Jace, but now I really enjoy watching the game from the sideline."

"You're the glitter bomb Jace is always talking about," Clary said, realization dawning on her face.

"Guilty," Magnus said, stepping forward with the line. "We've been having a little battle since the eighth grade."

"What happened in the eighth grade?" Clary asked.

Magnus was about to say something, then he stopped, "You know, I don't remember," he said unconvincingly. "It was so long ago. I'm sure it was something stupid."

"That's what Jace said when I asked him," Alec said trying to shrug his suspicion away.

"Maybe you guys should just call it a truce," Clary suggested, all of them now at the front of the line.

"If he's willing, I would call a truce," Magnus said, moving to the counter. "Can I have a soda and whatever candy has the most sugar?" He quickly paid the attendant and moved to the side with his purchases. "Do you really think Jace would want to call it quits?" he asked Alec.

Alec shrugged while Clary was ordering, "He might."

Magnus nodded, seeming to be deep in thought as he popped a sugary piece of candy into his mouth.

"Speak of the devil," Alec muttered quietly as Clary handed him food.

Jace walked up to them, clearly having skipped out on their mid-game team meeting. "Hey, Clary," Jace said, kissing his girlfriend on the cheek.

"You've really got to stop skipping your huddles," she reprimanded him, "Coach won't put up with your attitude forever."

"Ah, I can always charm my way back to his good side. Besides, I wanted to see my pretty girl who coincidently hangs out with my brother," Jace said, staring at Alec who was looking anywhere but at him. "A brother who apparently does not notice my existence," he joked. He glanced at Magnus giving him a look that said, 'compliment my brother, you dipshit.' Magnus turned back to Alec who was staring intently at the nachos Clary just bought him. It almost looked as if he were trying to send them into another dimension.

"Yes," Magnus added reluctantly. There was a war inside him on whether he wanted to explicitly compliment Alec in a way that might make him feel uncomfortable but also piss Jace off, or if he just wanted to let Jace win and give a subtle compliment. He decided to compromise... "A delectable brother with beautiful eyes and a hot ass that is somehow related to the spawn of satan."

Alec glanced up at Magnus with red cheeks and surprise in his eyes. He looked slightly worried that Jace would catch on to what's going on.

"Hey, Shimmer Slut, that's my brother you're talking to," Jace angrily said, secretly winking at Magnus. Clary grabbed his arm, whispering something unheard by the other two, but his look of anger did not subside.

"Oh relax, Farrah," Magnus said, finishing his sugary candy. "I'm just here for the food," he said drinking his soda. He dropped a wink to Alec before walking back towards the field.

"Asshole," Jace grumbled, reluctantly pulling away from Clary. "I better get back to the meeting." And with that, Jace angrily walked away.

"I guess he doesn't want a truce," Alec said in a small voice.

"You never know," Clary said, walking with him back to their seats, "He'd do just about anything for you."

Alec wasn't so sure he would, though. Maybe his hate for Magnus was greater than his love for Alec…

 **Thanks for reading! Review and tell me what you think!**


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